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WORKS. Newly arranged. 7 vols. i2mo, each, 82.00. 

1. Chbbrful Yesterdays. 

2. Contemporaries. 

3. Army Life in a Black Regiment. 

4. Women and the Alphabet. 

5. Studies in Romance. 

6. Outdoor Studies; and Poems. 

7. Studies in History and Letters. 
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LIFE AND TIMES OF STEPHEN HIGGINSON. 

Illustrated. Large crown 8vo, $2.00, net. Postage 

extra. 

EDITED WITH MRS. E. H. BIGELOW 
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HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 
Boston and New York 



LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

STEPHEN HIGGINSON 



LIFE AND TIMES 

OF 

STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

Jidember of the Continental Congress (1783) 

and 

Author of the " Laco " Letters^ relating to 

John Hancock (1789) 

BY 

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON 

fVITH ILLUSTRATIONS 




BOSTON AND NEW YORK 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 

(Ibe Utitetjsitie J&tejSj*, Cambrilige 

1907 



T6^ 



L»8R«kHY of CONGRESS 


Two CoDles Recelvod 

SEP 18 ♦90/' 


"TCopyncht Errtry 
CLASS 4 XXC., No. 

COPY D, 




COPYRIGHT 1907 BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



Publhlud September, iqoy 



CONTENTS 

I. Introduction I 

II. The Old Salem (Mass.) Families 7 

III. A Sea Captain before Parliament (1775) ^9 

IV. The Quarter-Deck in Politics (1783) 35 
V. The Continental Congress (1783) 47 

VI. The Annapolis Convention (Sept., 1786) 65 
VII. Shays' Insurrection, or ** The Gentility's 

War" (1786) 81 

VIII. The Nine States in Convention (1787) 99 

IX. Laco and his Letters (1789) 123 

X. The Isle of France (1789) 139 

XI. Municipal Life in Boston (i 790-1 804) 151 

XII. Navy Agent (1798) 185 

XIII. The Feasts of Shells (1802-03-04) 217 

XIV. A Green Old Age (1804-28) 231 
XV. The Strange Career of a Son and Heir 257 

XVI. Last Days in Brookline 269 

XVII. Stephen Higginson as drawn by Others 287 

Index 297 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Stephen Higginson {photogra'vure) Frontispiece 

From the original painting by Gilbert Stuart, in the possession 
of George Higginson, Esq., Lenox, Mass. 

The Whitfield- Higginson House, Guilford, Conn. lo 

From a photograph. 

Nathaniel Higginson, Governor of Madras (his wife, 
and, entering the room, his future son-in-law, 
Stephen Aynsworth) 12 

From a painting in the possession of T. W. Higginson. 

Facsimile of a Deed, 1671 14 

From the original in the possession of T. JV. Higginson. 

Facsimile of Marriage License 1 6 

From the original in the possession of T. JV. Higginson. 



40 



Facsimile of Bill of Sale 

From the original in the possession of T. W. Higginson. 

Facsimile of Letter from Bilboa 44 

From the original in the possession of T. fV. Higginson. 

Elbridge Gerry 52 

From an engra'ving by Longacre, after the painting by Van- 
derlyn. 

General Henry Knox 76 

From the original portrait by Gilbert Stuart in the Museum 
of Fine Arts, Boston. 

James Bowdoin 88 

From the original painting by Copley in the collection of Mrs. 
Robert C. Winthrop, Jr. 

[ Vli ] 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

John Hancock 126 

From the original painting by Copley in the Museum of Fine 
yirts, Boston. 



142 



Facsimile of Invoice Sheet 

From the original in the possession of T. W. Higginson. 

Facsimile of a Deed, 1796 158 

From the original in the possession of T. JV. Higginson. 

George Cabot 194 

From the original painting in the possession of Mrs. Henry 
Lee, Brookline, Mass. 

The Frigate Constitution 214 

After the painting by Marshall yohnson, copyrighted in 
1896 by A. W. Elson & Co., Boston. 

Alexander Hamilton 280 

From the original painting by Trumbull in the Neiv Tori 
Chamber of Commerce, by kind permission of the President, 
Alexander E. Orr, Esq. 

John Lowell 290 

From the painting by Gilbert Stuart in the possession of 
LoivelP s great-grandson, John Lotvell of Boston. 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 

DR. Franklin used to lament, so 
far as he could be said to lament 
anything, the absence of habitual 
cheerfulness among the Federalists with 
whom his later life was cast. It is hard 
for us to tell how much of this charge was 
just and how much was based on the dig- 
nity assumed unconsciously by the Revo- 
lutionary leaders while creating a new 
nation, the destinies of which were really 
more momentous than they knew. The 
life of George Washington had been 
written four times — b}^ the elder Bancroft, 
by Marshall, by Sparks, and by the viva- 
cious Weems — before any biographer 
had acknowledged in print that this hero 
ever smiled ; and it was reserved for the 
cheery and benignant Irving to point 
out, though only in the small types of a 
[ 3 ] 



INTRODUCTION 

footnote, that Washington once laughed 
heartily. Again, among the minor leaders 
of that period, one of the first to have his 
life written was Gouverneur Morris, when 
Jared Sparks became his biographer, but 
it was not until Morris's own diaries and 
letters appeared in full, without Sparks's 
supervision, that they turned out to be 
almost as amusing as those of Horace 
Walpole. All this comes home to me 
when I undertake the memoir of my 
grandfather, Stephen Higginson. 

It is a significant fact that while all his 
official writings, even in satire, have the 
predominant gravity which marks the rest 
of the Federalists, yet I learned from the 
only real specimen of the Federalist leaders 
with whom I remember to have conversed, 
— James Richardson of Rhode Island, — 
of my grandfather's uttering the only 
jocose word that I ever heard attributed 
to any Federalist in defeat. When the last 
large gathering of this body of men was 
[ 4 ] 



INTRODUCTION 

held at George Cabot's house in Brook- 
line and a discussion arose as to how they 
should treat their conquerors, and when 
all others had advocated the sternest 
and most crushing contempt, the only one 
who took the matter philosophically was 
Stephen Higginson. "After all, gentle- 
men," he said, " if a man has to live in the 
house with a cat, he cannot always address 
her as * cat ' ! Sometimes he must call her 
' Pussy.' " 

To have been one of the first American 
shipmasters called on to testify before Par- 
liament as to American colonial matters; 
to have been a member of the Continental 
Congress in its closing days; to have been 
second in command during the first effect- 
ive resistance to Shays' Rebellion; the 
first to argue from that peril the need of 
a stronger government; the first to suggest 
that the voices of nine out of the thirteen 
States could make the Confederacy into a 
Nation; the first to organize and equip the 
[ 5 ] 



INTRODUCTION 

American Navy under JeJEferson's admin- 
istration; — these afford sufficient ground 
to justify the writing of any man's memoir. 
These suffice to place Stephen Higginson 
where he belongs, among the recognized 
leaders of his time, that being the period 
of the very formation of the American Re- 
public. The fact that he sharply criticised 
John Hancock, in the once famous "Laco" 
letters, shows him to have been, like most 
of the leaders of that period, a frank critic 
of his compeers, if somewhat more spicy 
than the rest ; but the internal disputes 
among reformers are sometimes quite as 
interesting as the reforms themselves, and 
we need to know the limitations of our 
leaders by their judgments of one another. 



II 

THE OLD SALEM FAMILIES 

" Those that love their owne chimney corner and dare not 
go farre beyond their own townes end shall never have the 
honour to see these wonderfull workes of Almighty God." — 
Francis Iligginson, on his voyage to America in itsg. 



THE OLD SALEM FAMILIES 

ONE of the most important steps in 
human progress thus far taken by 
the American nation lies clearly 
in its establishment of a new standard of 
ancestry. For instance, the earliest dis- 
tinctly known ancestress of the Higginson 
family, whether of the English or New 
English branch, was the widow Joane 
Higginson. It is nearly three and a half 
centuries since this English widow be- 
queathed, by her last will and testament, 
seven pounds a year to the poor of Berkes- 
well. County Warwick. A source more 
honorable for a family stock could hardly 
be demanded; the very smallness of the 
sum, tried by the standards of to-day, 
making her act simpler and more digni- 
fied. It is from her that is also descended 
the English line of the family, of which 
[ 9 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

Major-General Sir George Wentworth 
Higginson, K. C. B., of the Grenadier 
Guards, is the representative. 

I wish to write a memoir of the widow 
Joane's descendant in the seventh genera- 
tion, Stephen Higginson, my grandfather, 
a member of the Continental Congress, 
that body which preceded and at length 
established the American Union. The 
widow Joane was mother of the Rev. 
John Higginson, who was Vicar of Clay- 
brooke, Leicester, England, for fifty-three 
years. She was grandmother of the Rev. 
Francis, the immigrant, who graduated, 
like his father, at Jesus College, Cam- 
bridge, England, and, like his father, 
preached at Claybrooke, but came to 
Salem in 1629, and was the first English 
clergyman ordained on American soil. 

The Rev. Francis Higginson wrote in 

a journal of his voyage in 1629: "Those 

that love their owne chimney corner and 

dare not go farre beyond their own townes 

[ 10 ] 



THE OLD SALEM FAMILIES 

end shall never have the honour to see 
these wonderfull workes of Almighty 
God." ' The voyage from whose narrative 
this is quoted began on April 25, 1629, 
and lasted six weeks. Francis Higginson 
died within a year after arrival and was 
followed in the ministry at Salem by his 
eldest son, the Rev. John Higginson, who 
had been bred to the ministry, but became 
a teacher in the grammar school at Hart- 
ford, and then chaplain at the fort at Say- 
brook, Connecticut, where he was assist- 
ant pastor to the Rev. Henry Whitfield, 
whose daughter he married, the wedding 
taking place in an old stone mansion still 
standing and now the oldest house within 
the original limits of the United States. 
His mother having lately died, he was 
about removing to London, in 1659, to 
settle her estate, when the vessel which 

' Life of Francis Higginson, p. 47. A full narrative of this 
preacher's career may be found in my life of him in Makers 
of America. New York, Dodd, Mead & Co. 

[ " ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

bore himself and family was driven by 
stress of weather into Salem harbor. 
There he was persuaded to remain and 
take charge of the church founded by his 
father, thirty years before. He was or- 
dained in August, 1660, and remained in 
continuous service until December 9, 
1708, winning for himself the title of 
"the Nestor of the New England clergy." 
The eldest son of this saintly man was 
also named John (2), and was born at Guil- 
ford, Connecticut, in 1646; was educated 
a merchant, was lieutenant-colonel of the 
regiment in Salem, led expeditions against 
the Indians, and was a member of the 
Governor's Council. Another son, Nathan- 
iel, also born in Guilford, graduated at 
Harvard in 1670, and went to England, 
and afterwards to the East Indies, where 
he was governor of the royal factory at 
Madras. Some fine old family pictures 
painted for him are now in my possession. 
A third John (3) was a registrar of probate 
[ i^ ] 




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THE OLD SALEM FAMILIES 

in Salem. His son Stephen ("*) was one 
of the leading merchants of Salem, took 
an active part in the establishment of 
the town, and was thus commemorated, 
after his death, by the "Boston News 
Letter : " — 

Salem, October 15th, 1761. 
On Monday the 12th Instant died at 
Newbury, and this Day was decently in- 
terred here, Stephen Higginson, Esq; of 
this Town. He was in Commission for the 
Peace, and a Justice of the Court of Pleas 
for this County, and a Member of the Hon- 
orable House of Representatives. A Gen- 
tleman of a truly amiable Character, both 
in public and private Life; as he was a 
tender and instructive Father, a kind and 
loving Husband, a sincere and steady 
Friend, an accurate Merchant ; and re- 
tained an unblemished Character, thro' the 
whole of his Trade and Business, which 
was extensive. A Person of strict Virtue 
and Religion, but free from shew and os- 

[ 13 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

tentation, which he always abhorred. As 
few Persons exceeded him in useful Know- 
ledge and Capacity to serve the Public, so 
he was second to no Man in the Upright- 
ness of his Intentions, the Sincerity of his 
Declarations and Integrity of his Actions. 
These Virtues being very conspicuous in 
him, rendered him a Gentleman of a rising 
Character, and his Death may be justly 
esteemed, not only a private but a public 
Loss.' 

Stephen Higginson, Second ^^\ the sub- 
ject of this work, had thus for his lineal 
ancestors on the father's side a line con- 
sisting of three clergymen, a member of the 
Governor's Council, a notary public, and 
a justice of the Court of Common Pleas. 
His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of John 
and Anna (Orne) Cabot, he being thus by 
maternal inheritance connected with one 
or two Salem families also prominent and 

* Boston News Letter, October 22, 1761. 

[ H ] 






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THE OLD SALEM FAMILIES 

prolific who were repeatedly intermarried 
with the Higginsons ; as were also the 
Lees, Jacksons, and others. He was born 
on November 28, 1743, went to the Salem 
schools, and was then brought up as a 
merchant in the counting-room of Deacon 
Smith of Boston. It seems quite probable 
that he may, like his cousin, George Cabot, 
have made a voyage or two as cabin-boy, 
in accordance with a custom then prevail- 
ing in the mercantile households of Salem. 
This seems probable in view of the fact that 
on his marrying, at twenty-one (in 1764), 
Susan, daughter of Aaron and Susanna 
(Porter) Cleveland, a second cousin of 
his, residing in Connecticut, he at once 
became a supercargo and then a navigator, 
voyaging to England, Spain, and else- 
where, as part owner. It is known that 
his family disapproved of this marriage, 
either on the ground of relationship or of 
his youth, and this may be the reason why 
the rash young couple went to Portsmouth, 
[ '5 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

New Hampshire, to be wedded, where 
they received from Governor Wentworth 
a marriage certificate peculiar enough to 
be quoted entire, as follows : — 

By His Excellency Benning Wentworth 
Esq, Captain General Governor & Com- 
mander in Cheif in & over His Majes- 
ty's Province of New Hampshire 
To Either of the Ordain'd Ministers of 
the Gospel of said Province Except one 
Drowne 

You are hereby Authorized and Im- 
power'd to join together in Holy Matri- 
mony 

STEPHEN HIGGINSON & 
SUSANNA CLEVELANDE 

Unless some Lawfull Impediment ap- 
pears to you to the Contrary 

Given at Portsmouth the 20th day of 
Octobere 1764 

B Wentworth 

Rece'd 13/6 Sterling for the above Liscence 

S Atkinson Jun Secy 
[ 16 ] 




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THE OLD SALEM FAMILIES 

Mr. Drowne, the subject of this stern 
exclusion, was one of the sect called by 
its members Independent Congregational- 
ists, but by its opponents, who apparently 
included Governor Wentworth, " New 
Lights." 



Ill 

A SEA-CAPTAIN BEFORE 
PARLIAMENT 

{^775) 

"From Salem, in Massachusetts Bay; a Merchant." — 
Stephen Higginson, questioned by Edmund Burke, before a 
Committee of Parliament in 177 1. 



A SEA-CAPTAIN BEFORE 
PARLIAMENT 

THE newly married youth estab- 
lished his household in Salem, 
in a modest dwelling at the cor- 
ner of Main and Central streets, nearly 
opposite the Lafayette Coffee House, and 
soon set sail on his first voyage to Eng- 
land. He introduced himself to Mr. and 
Mrs. Cabot, of London, kinsmen of his, 
who were already established there, and 
made various acquaintances through his 
father's commercial correspondents. This 
led ultimately to his being called before 
a committee of the House of Commons in 
1 77 1, where he was in part questioned by 
Edmund Burke, in company with " Billy " 
Rotch, and apparently with the first Josiah 
Quincy. On his return to this country, he 
was vehemently attacked at Marblehead, 
[ 21 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

and even brought before court on charge 
of traitorous conduct, but had fortunately 
kept a copy of his precise answers, and 
won much applause when he produced 
them. They are preserved in Force's "Ar- 
chives," and are well worth reprinting here 
also, as giving a good exhibition, almost 
unique, of the mercantile conditions pre- 
vailing at the time. They throw a curious 
light, for instance, on the jealousies exist- 
ing thus early between New England and 
Nova Scotia on the presence, at that early 
time, of considerable numbers of Span- 
ish, Portuguese, and Dutch at Marblehead. 
They also throw light on the French 
fisheries already existing in Newfound- 
land, and on the whale fishery at Nan- 
tucket. 

Report of testimony given before Parlia- 
ment by Stephen Higginson, a Salem, 
Mass., Shipmaster. 

^. Of what country is he ? 
[ 22 ] 



BEFORE PARLIAMENT 

A. From Salem, in the Massachusetts 
Bay; a Merchant. 

^. Whether there is as much Corn and 
other Provisions produced in that Province 
as will supply the inhabitants? 

A. Apprehend not. 

^. Whether there is sufficient Corn and 
other Provisions produced in all the New 
England Provinces for their support.'' 

A. No. 

^. From whence do they receive addi- 
tional support? 

A. From the Carolinas, Virginia, 
Maryland, and New- York, chiefly. 

^. Whether he is acquainted with the 
trade of the Fisheries carried on in New 
England ? 

A. Not much acquainted with the Whale 
Fishery, but have considerable knowledge 
of the Cod Fishery. 

^. How many Vessels are employed in 
the Cod Fishery? 

A. About seven hundred Vessels. 
[ 23 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

^. Of what burthen are they? 

A. Five hundred of them estimated from 
forty to seventy tons; the other two hun- 
dred from about fifteen to forty. 

^. How many hands do seven hundred 
Vessels carry? 

A. On an average they carry about six. 

^. How many hands are employed on 
shore for the Cod Fishery? 

A. About half the number are employed 
in curing the Fish that there is in taking 
of them. 

^. How many Vessels employed in 
carrying the Fishery to market? 

A. Should imagine about three hundred 
and fifty, from seventy or eighty tons, to 
about one hundred and seventy or one 
hundred and eighty; they carry about 
eight hands, one with another. 

^. What would these people do if the 
Fishery was stopped ? 

A. I can't readily resolve that question; 
suppose they would remain where they 
[ 24 ] 



BEFORE PARLIAMENT 

are as long as they could subsist, in hopes 
of being engaged in their old employ- 
ment. 

^. But when that hope failed, and they 
could no longer subsist? 

A. Then they will probably go else- 
where. 

^. Whether they would settle at Halt- 
faxf 

A, In general, I think not. 

^. Why? 

A, Several reasons; one is, the Fisher- 
men in Salem and other Towns are a 
very quiet and steady set of men. They 
esteem the people of Halifax to be dis- 
solute, and of a quite contrary turn. I 
think, therefore, they would not sit down 
among a people so different in their man- 
ners. Another reason is, that they think 
the Government of Halifax is arbitrary, 
and have a terrible notion of it. Another; 
those who have been there, have disliked 
the country very much, as being inhospit- 
[ 25 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

able, and affording but a very hard and 
coarse fare. 

^. Would they go to Miguelon and 
St. Pierre^ and fish for France? 

A. Don't think they would generally; 
from Marblehead some perhaps would. 

^. Why would they from thence ? 

A. Because the people there are of va- 
rious nations, Spaniards, Portuguese and 
Dutch; but the others are born in the 
Towns where they live, have tenements 
and freeholds there, and would not leave 
their place of abode, I conceive. 

^. From whence do the Manufactures 
used in New England come? 

A, I suppose from Great Britain. 

^ How do they pay for them? 

A. By the proceeds of the Whale and 
Cod Fisheries chiefly. 

^. Do they receive Molasses in return 
for Fish? 

A. A great quantity. 

^. What do they do with it? 
[ 26 ] 



BEFORE PARLIAMENT 

A. It is chiefly manufactured into Rum; 
part is consumed in America^ and part 
exported. 

^. Are the Merchants of Massachusetts 
Bay in debt to Great Britain f 

A, Certainly. 

^. If the Fishery is stopped, what other 
means of paying their debts ? 

A. I know of no means but the articles 
of Pot and Pearl Ash, Lumber, Furs, Ships, 
and Flaxseed. 

^. What would that be in comparison 
to the debts? 

A, Very small. 

^. Whether, supposing the Fishery 
stopped in New England., and allowed 
in Nova Scotia^ they would not follow 
the Fishery in Nova Scotia f 

A, I don't think they would. 

^ Whether there is not a constant 
export of Provisions from Neiv England 
to the West Indies? 

A. There is from Connecticut and the 
[ 27 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

Massachusetts ; they export Cattle and 
other live stock. 

^. Whether Indian Corn is not ex- 
ported to the West Indies ? 

A, Don't know that there is any. 

^. Is not Provisions carried to New- 
foundland f 

A. They supply the Newfoundland 
Fishery considerably, with Rice, Bread 
and Flour. 

^. Why the Spaniards and Portu- 
guese, of Marblehead, would be more 
afraid of going to Halifax, than to Migue- 
lon and St. Pierre ? 

A. I don't know that they would. 

^. If they send their Fish to Spanish 
markets this year, would they not bring 
back the proceeds to America, and not to 
Great Britain? 

A. I imagine the proceeds of the Fish 
would centre here this year as usual. 

Withdrew. 

Called in again. 

[ 28 ] 



BEFORE PARLIAMENT 

^. Whether the Indian Corn and Flour 
exported from the Ba}^ for the Newfound- 
land Fishery, is not imported from Caro- 
lina, Pennsylvania, and New Torkf 

A. It is. The Bread and Corn exported 
to Newfoundland Fishery, is not one 
eighth part of the Corn and Flour imported 
from the Southern Colonies. 

^. Is not part of the Exports to S^ain 
the manufacture of New England? 

A. No. 

^. Does he know whether the Debt due 
to the Merchants of Great Britain is reg- 
ularly paid or not? 

A. They have been paid with less punc- 
tuality for the four or five years last past 
than before. 

^. To what do you attribute that? 

A. To their having imported, in the 
years 1770, 1771, and 1772, more Goods 
than was sufficient for their market. 

^. Do the merchants of England still 
continue to trust the Americans? 
[ 29 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

A. I know of no instance of their having 
refused to give them credit. 

^. Whether this Bill will enable the 
Merchants to pay their debts better? 

A. Certainly not. The alteration will be 
quite the reverse, and will cut off the 
source of payment. 

^. Does he understand the state of the 
French Fishery on Newfoundland? 

A, Not particularly; but have learn't 
from our Fishermen that they have of late 
increased it. 

^. If the Fishery from New England 
was stopped, would not the French have 
a part of it? 

A. Suppose they might. 

^. Is he acquainted with the method of 
the French Fishery? 

A. Yes. 

^. Do the French fish for themselves, 
or buy it of the New England Fisher- 
men? 

A. I never heard of their buying any. 
[ 30 ] 



BEFORE PARLIAMENT 

^. Can the French cure the Fish as well 
as Nevj England men ? 

A. I don't imagine they can; for the 
same reason that the Newfoundland Fish 
is not so well cured, the climate being 
more subject to fogs. 

^. Whether, if the Provinces are re- 
strained from fishing, their nets would not 
rot, and materials become unserviceable? 

A, They certainly would very soon. 

^. Whether, if this Bill takes place, the 
Provinces would be in distress for want 
of Provisions? 

A, I imagine they will. 

^. Whether the people of Nantucket 
who follow the Whale Fishery, will not 
be ruined by its being stopped? 

A. They must be entirely ruined. 

^. Could the people of Great Britain 
cure the Fish as well as the New Eng- 
land men ? 

A. They may as dry, but the quality of 
the fish will be inferiour. 
[ 31 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

^. Is there not a Coast Fishery for the 
supply of fresh Fish? 

A. A vast deal. In the sea-ports of 
Massachusetts Bay, quarter of the people 
live on fresh Fish. 

^. Does it extend to the four Provinces ? 

A. Not in the same degree. 

^. What would become of those ar- 
ticles, Potash &c., if not exported? 

A. I suppose the manufacture of Pot 
and Pearl-ash would cease till the trade 
opened again. 

^. Whether the Non - Exportation 
Agreement would not affect the Mer- 
chants here, as much as the Bill ? 

A, I believe not; those articles being 
not above three twentieths of the 
whole. 

^. Does he know any thing of the sale 
of the Fish in the Spanish Ports, and of 
the consumption inland? 

A. Yes. 

^. Whether the New England Fish 
[ 32 ] 



BEFORE PARLIAMENT 

is sent as far inland as the Neivfoundland 
Fish? 

A. The early spring Fish from Netu 
England is sent further, it being much 
tougher, and for this quality a much 
greater price is given than for the New- 
foundland Fish. 

^. Do you know this to be fact? 

A, I do. 

^. Whether Fish cured in Newfound- 
land is carried to Portugal, and thence 
to the Brazils f 

A. Can't say. 

^. Whether the Non - Importation 
Agreement will not prevent their sending 
Fish to the West India Islands ? 

A. Apprehend not. 

Withdrew.' 

' Force's Archives, Fourth Series, i, pp. 1645-48 (compare 
Felt's Annals of Salem, ii (ed. 1849), 553)- 



IV 

THE QUARTER-DECK IN 
POLITICS 

(^783) 



■ Give me a spirit that on this life's rough sea 
Loves to have his sails filled with a lusty wind." 

Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron. 



THE QUARTER-DECK IN 
POLITICS 

I HAVE been disappointed to find among 
the well-preserved documents of the 
Essex Institute at Salem so little 
about the details of Salem commerce be- 
fore the Revolution, this proceeding from 
the fact that the records of the custom- 
house were generally removed at this last 
period. The only authentic record which 
I have obtained is that in 1772 " Capt. 
Stephen Higginson brought home a bell 
of about 900 lbs. for the North church 
and another of 590 lbs. for the East church. 
The latter sold their old bell of 217I lbs. 
to Harvard College at J lb. and it was 
transported thither." ' It is perhaps amus- 
ingly suggestive of the clerical traditions 
of the family at that early day that this 

' Felt's Annals of Salem, i (ed. 1845), 3^7- 

[ 37 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

only definitely recorded service should be 
for the churches, and in a subsidiary way 
that he should have ultimately rendered 
service to Harvard College, with which 
institution the pursuits and fortunes of his 
descendants have been so closely inter- 
twined. What is certain is that these 
voyages continued more or less regularly 
up to the time of the American Revolution, 
and were generally followed by privateer- 
ing under the same or different officers 
during that whole period. Thus Stephen 
Higginson's only brother, Henry (born 
December 14, 1747, and died unmarried), 
commanded privateers in 1782, namely, 
the brig Joseph, carrying eight guns and 
fifteen men, and the brig Swallow, with 
six guns and twenty men.' 

' See Captain Preble's " Notes on Early Ship-Building in 
Massachusetts," New England Historical and Genealogical 
Register (January, 1872, pp. 21, 27). Henry Higginson was one 
of eighty-one volunteers from Salem for the Rhode Island 
expedition. They reached Rhode Island August 16, 1778, 
fought and retreated, finding themselves unsupported by the 

[ 38 ] 



QUARTER-DECK IN POLITICS 

The War of the Revolution once over, 
the Salem merchants sought for wider and 
wider adventure. Joseph Peabody lived 
to own, first and last, eighty-three ships, 
which he freighted himself ; he shipped 
about seven thousand seamen, and pro- 
moted forty-five men to be captains who 
had first shipped with him as boys. Other 
merchants, of whom Elias Hasket Derby 
was the chief, were constantly projecting 
distant voyages, and taking pains to bring 
forward enterprising young men, who were 
given ventures of their own as captain or 
supercargo. These were often the sons of 
shipowners, and, aided by the excellent 
public schools of Salem, became officers 
at an age that seems surprisingly early. 
Nathaniel Silsbee, the eldest son of a sea- 
captain, went to sea as captain's clerk 
at fourteen; his brother William did the 

French fleet {Essex Institute Collections, i, 113). Henry Hig- 
ginson was also deputy in the Massachusetts Legislature 
(Felt's Annals of Salem., ii (ed. 1849), 565). 

[ 39 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

same at fifteen, and his brother Zacha- 
riah at sixteen. The eldest brother was 
in command of a vessel for a nineteen- 
months voyage before he was nineteen, 
and the two others before they were 
twenty. All three retired from the sea 
when under twenty-nine. Captain Na- 
thaniel Silsbee had sailed one East-India 
voyage of nineteen months, at the begin- 
ning of which neither he nor his first mate 
(Charles Derby) nor his second mate 
(Richard Cleveland) was twenty years 
old. Stephen Higginson commanded one 
of his father's ships at twenty-one. His 
double-first cousin, George Cabot, — after- 
ward the first Secretary of the Navy, and 
the president of the Hartford Convention, 
— left Harvard College and went to sea 
at sixteen as cabin-boy under his brother- 
in-law, Joseph Lee ; the traditional opin- 
ion expressed in the family being that 
" Cap'n Joe would put George Cabot's 
nose to the grindstone," which was doubt- 
[ 40 ] 







'tari'i/^^ 









'M 



^ fA r£- 












// 
// 












l^'A/f^ 



J- 3,. O^ 

^,. ..... 

- /. 



.c5^: ^' ^ 



S^'^ f/3<9lm- 







QUARTER-DECK IN POLITICS 

less done. At twenty, Cabot was himself 
a captain. In the slower developments of 
the present day, there is something amus- 
ing in this carnival of youth. 

A type of character so strong as that of 
the old Salem sea-captains could not well 
pass away in America without making its 
final mark on the politics as well as the 
business of the nation. In the fierce strife 
between the Federalists and the Demo- 
crats, these men not only took the Feder- 
alist side as a body, but for a time they 
gave a name to it. Salem was Federalist 
and the headquarters of Federalism was 
Salem. The strength of that strong party 
was in the merchants of Essex County, 
most of whom had been shipmasters in 
their youth. The name familiarly given to 
the party was "Essex Junto." Timothy 
Pickering wrote in a letter in 1808' that 
the first time he heard this phrase was 

' Henry Adams's Documents Relating to New England Fed- 
eralism (Boston, 1877), p. 369. 

[ 41 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

from President John Adams as late as 
1797, and that the three men whom he 
named as heading the clique were George 
Cabot, Stephen Higginson,and Theophilus 
Parsons ; in other words, two ex-sea- 
captains and the chief maritime lawyer of 
his time. 

The habit of the quarter-deck, in fact, 
went all through the Federalist party of 
Massachusetts. The slaveholders them- 
selves did not more firmly believe that 
they constituted the nation. To the " Es- 
sex Junto," Jefferson himself seemed but 
a mutineering first mate, and his " rights 
of man " but the black flag of a rebellious 
crew. They paid the penalty of their own 
autocratic habits ; they lived to see their 
cause lost ; but they went down with their 
flags flying, having had the satisfaction — 
if satisfaction it was — to see much of their 
cargo of political principles transferred 
bodily to the hold of their victor. 

In the early part of the Revolutionary 
[ 42 ] -^- 



QUARTER-DECK IN POLITICS 

War, Stephen Higginson turned his ener- 
gies, like most Salem sea-captains and 
shipowners, to privateering; he was cred- 
ited with having made by this pursuit the 
sum of $70,000, or at least this was the 
opinion of his nephew and friend, John 
Lowell. In 1778 he removed from Salem 
to Boston, and became the partner of his 
kinsman, Jonathan Jackson, was a mem- 
ber of the Massachusetts Legislature in 
1782, and was elected thence to the Colo- 
nial Congress on October 2, 1782. During 
all this intermediate period I can find no 
letters from him, either at the Salem Athe- 
naeum or among those published by Mr. 
Jameson,' which go back earlier than 1783 ; 
and have none in my own possession save 
the two following, which, though wholly 
commercial, are illustrative of the period. 
Both are addressed to his brother-in-law, 
Stephen Cleveland, then in command or 
on board of the brig Despatch, at Bor- 

' American Historical Ass'n's Report for 1896, i, 704-841. 

[ 43 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

deaux, buying arms and munitions of war 
for the Continental Army. At the time 
when these letters were written, their 
author was thirty-five years of age. 

BiLBOA, Nov. 22, 1776. 
De Steph — 

I have been waiting here 10 days for 
aBan ' to sail, which has given me an 
opp'y of hearing of your arrival at Bour- 
deaux — Wish you had wrote me a Line 
when my Letters by you was forwarded 
to me — have not heard one word from 
Lucy since I left home — I am not very 
well at present & should my Vessel sail 
before I feel better I may perhaps stay 
behind — pray write me immediately, let 
me know what sort of a Vessel you have 
when you will probably sail «&c, perhaps I 
may go home with you — your Friend &c 

S. HiGGINSON. 

' From MS. I have tried in vain to discover from old sea- 
faring men what this phrase " aBan " or " a Ban " signifies. 

[ 44 ] 






^ , ^^li&^^ C^ ^^2 . f^/^ — ^^ 



/ 



.^o:^£t^.^c^ /?i^u.-<ii^c,^^ ^^/^^t^ ^i.4^^ c ^^d^ 



<^6»,^^^^^<^w^^ ^y^^^U^^ .W."^ 




QUARTER-DECK IN POLITICS 

BiLBOA, Novf 26. 1776. 

D^ Steph. 

I this moment reed, yours & Harry's 
from Bordeaux — Am very glad to hear 
that Susy & all our friends are well. Wish 
you had accepted Mr Hooper's offer in- 
stead of this, altho' you are now on a good 
lay — yet the other would be more perma- 
nent (& is one of the best employs I know 
of. Had I rec<? yours at the time I rec?* 
those you brought for me from home, 
should have stayed and gone home with 
you, for I am now very unwell, tho' better 
than I have been, but am just now going 
down to Portogalette, where the vessel has 
been ten days wayting a Ban & the pilot 
says we shall certainly sail at 4 in the 
morning 

George Cabot sailed four weeks ago with 
S^ Barb, at the time John Lee & Fletcher 
sailed — Birchmore also sails in his Brigt 
in C? with us — with him go John Cabot, 
Babson, Rappel & Tittle of M'head — We 
[ 45 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

have this day certain advice that there 
is a Frigate cruising off Cape Pinas and 
another off Ortegal — hope We shall avoid 
them — Candles will sell here at 9 to 10 
rials P M, Holland offers the best market 
for them, I am now shipping 200 Boxes to 
Mr John Hodshon at Amsterdam, that 
Collyer brought out — If Harry is not gone, 
give my love to him & tell him I rec^ 
Birmingham's balance and have laid it out 
in Hank'fs, but can do nothing with John 
Cabot, as he is below on board the vessel & 
will sail in the morning — Am glad Harry 
has got the vessel, hope you will both get 
home safe — My respects to Mes? French & 
Co. have not time to write them now & to 
Me? Poncett & Maynard if you know them. 
Your friend & hum^ Servant 

S. HiGGINSON 

P. S. Pot ashes are not used here I be- 
lieve, & therefore no market for it.' 

' From MSS. 



V 

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

(1783) 

"The Congress [of Vienna] does not walk, but it dances." 
— Prince de Ligne. 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

STEPHEN Higginson's near kinsman 
and lifelong friend, John Lowell, 
says of him that he was as much 
out of office throughout life as so able a 
man could be. There was indeed one an- 
ecdote of his having gone hastily on board 
one of his own vessels, and having put out 
to sea, in order to get rid of persuasion to 
accept a nomination. His partner, Jonathan 
Jackson, had, however, been a member of 
Congress about the year 1782; while Ste- 
phen Higginson had been a member of the 
State Legislature from Boston in 1782, and 
an election to Congress had followed after. 
He was chosen on October 24, 1782, to 
serve for one year from the first Monday 
in November, though he did not actually 
take his seat until February 27, 1783. It 
was a common thing among the delegates 
[ 49 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

to arrange among themselves the periods 
of their attendance.' 

The historian Hildreth says of the Con- 
tinental Congress: "History knows few 
bodies so remarkable. The Long Parlia- 
ment of Charles I, the French National 
Assembly, are alone to be compared with 
it." ^ Yet its inadequacy came gradually 
to be so marked, as time went on, from 
its lack of established legal authority, that 
the average attendance amounted in 1783 
to only twenty persons. Even under these 
conditions it is curious to observe how 
precisely the relative positions of Massa- 
chusetts and South Carolina, on the sub- 
ject of slavery, were the same as now. 
In the Continental Congress, — or " old 
Congress," as it was long called, — when 
on the first of April, 1783, it was agreed 
to count only three fifths of the slaves as 
a basis for taxation, Massachusetts could 

' Austin's Life of Elbridge Gerry , i, 4ii' 

^ Hildreth's History of the United States, iii, 547. 

[ 50 ] 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

not be brought to sanction the arrange- 
ment. Her delegation was divided — 
Messrs. Osgood and Gorham voting "aye" 
and Messrs. Holten and Higginson voting 
" no." Rhode Island voted " no " and so 
did one of the four members of Virginia. 
Georgia was not present. All the other 
states and delegates voted " aye." ' 

The last year of the Continental Con- 
gress was in fact a period of transition and 
all signs predicted the transfer of power 
to some organization that should be more 
sufficient unto itself. The States, not yet 
having parted with their independent sov- 
ereignty, claimed more immediate author- 
ity than is now claimed by them; as, for 
instance, when they not merely criticised 
the action of their delegates but demanded 
in some cases a fortnightly report of their 
proceedings. In other words, they re- 

^ Journal of Congress, viii, 171, 172 ; Upham's Speech (Mass. 
Legislature), February 20, 1849, p. ^5? Cmx^s's History 0/ the 
Constitution, i, 213 note. 

[ 5. ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

garded their delegates in the light of min- 
isters representing wholly independent 
sovereignties. In Stephen Higginson's 
time, this complication was enhanced by 
the rather touchy and imperious temper- 
ament of Elbridge Gerry, leader of his 
delegation. One of Stephen Higginson's 
first acts in Congress was to sign a pro- 
test with his colleagues, Holten and 
Gorham, in their capacity as delegates in 
Congress from the State of Massachusetts, 
against the denial to their colleague, Mr. 
Gerry, of his right of calling for the ayes 
and nays, — a question of order which had 
led to Gerry's resignation ' of his seat and 
had kept him away from Congress for 
nearly three years. Again, a committee 
of correspondence had been appointed in 
Massachusetts, to which committee Mr. 
Gerry had addressed a letter in behalf of 
the delegates, explaining the injustice to 
Massachusetts in the appointment of a 

* Austin's Life of Elbridge Gerry, i, 324. 
,[ 52 ] 




ELBRIDGE GERRY 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

sinking fund to redeem bills of credit.' 
This letter was never communicated to 
the Legislature, a fact of which Stephen 
Higginson writes to Mr. Gerry: " The sup- 
pression of our letter has produced a great 
fermentation. It has much hurt our friend 
Mr. S. Adams, and has ruined Mr. Apple- 
ton's public course," Mr. Appleton having 
claimed to have put it in his pocket and 
forgotten it. This was voted unsatisfac- 
tory and he was not reelected. " I thought 
it very imprudent and unfair in them," 
Higginson continues, "and told them so; 
but they were afraid it would hurt their 
darling child, the Continental Impost Bill. 
Many of the members say, that had it not 
been suppressed the act would not have 
passed." ^ Mr. Adams alleged as his excuse 
the pressure of business upon him as Pres- 
ident of the Senate, and the recent exami- 



' Austin's Life'of Elbridge Gerry, i, 412-414; Staples's 
Rhode Island, 489. 

* Austin's Life of Elbridge Gerry, \, 414. 

[ 53 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

nation of Mr. Higginson which he thought 
had superseded the necessity of any farther 
information. It seems that Mr. Higginson 
had just been personally examined before 
the State Legislature, this being another 
instance of that close supervision exer- 
cised by the States over the Continental 
Congress. 

It appears from the Journal of Congress 
that on May 7, 1783, a committee con- 
sisting of Mr. Higginson, Mr. Clarke, and 
Mr. Gervais, to whom was referred a mo- 
tion of Mr. Dyer, reported : — 

"That such of the States as have set- 
tled with the officers and soldiers of their 
respective lines, for their pay in the Army 
of the United States since the first day of 
August, 1780, be requested to exhibit the 
accounts of such payments, with proper 
vouchers, shewing the periods to which 
they have settled with their several lines 
and the manner in which such payments 
were made, and the superintendant of 
[ 54 ] 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

finance is hereby directed, upon the re- 
ceipt of such accounts, vouched as afore- 
said, to give to such States public securi- 
ties, payable in the same manner and for 
the same sums as would have been other- 
wise given to the officers and soldiers of 
such lines for their pay, from the said first 
day of August, 1780, to the time when they 
were so paid by their respective States." ' 

All New England members voted 
" aye " on this resolution, but Southern 
members generally " no," and the question 
was lost. 

The following records also appear : 
August II, 1783, there were reports by 
a committee, including Mr. Higginson, 
against a petition from John Irwin in re- 
gard to balance of pay. August 12, 1783, 
a committee, consisting of Mr. Higgin- 
son, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. Read, reported 
recommending a vote of thanks to the 
inhabitants of New Brunswick [N. J.]. 

' Journal of Congress, viii, 257. 

[ 55 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

August 13, 1783, Mr. Higginson voted 
against postponement of a motion of Mr. 
Howell that Congress should be ad- 
journed to meet at Philadelphia on the 
2ist (that is, leaving Princeton).' 

August 19, 1783, he voted "aye" on 
report on finance. August 26, 1783, Wash- 
ington visited the Congress. 

August 27, 1783, Mr. Higginson voted 
"aye" on a motion of Mr. Ellery as to 
a peace establishment. His associate, Mr. 
Holten, voted " no," they being thus di- 
vided, which was rare. He voted on sev- 
eral questions of routine up to September 
10, 1783. Later than this he several times 
moved or seconded successful resolutions 
to strike out passages from reports, etc. 

On September 13, 1783, he voted against 
postponing certain resolutions, and the 
same on September 16, 18, 19, and 20.' 

In the separate publication called "Secret 

' Journal of Congress, viii, 326-338. 
» Ibid., 332, 333, 336, 354. 

[ 56 ] 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Journal " of Congress there appear the 
following references to the participation 
of Stephen Higginson in the Continental 
Congress. 

On April ii, 1783, he voted to approve 
the proclamation for cessation of arms 
in the seventh year of sovereignty and 
independence. On May 5, 1783, he voted 
against the erasure of a resolution asking 
additional loan from France. (Resolution 
defeated.) On May 2 1,1783, he voted "no" 
on a resolution expressing unwillingness 
to become a party to a new confederacy 
with Russia. (Clause struck out. Voted 
in a minority on two subsequent votes.) 
On May 22, 1783, his vote appears several 
times in respect to instructions to Mr. 
Dana, after which, on motion of Mr. Hig- 
ginson, it was ordered that a committee be 
appointed to prepare and report a plan of 
a commercial treaty, proper to be trans- 
mitted to Mr. Dana. The members chosen 
were Mr. Fitzsimmons, Mr. Higginson, 
[ 57 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

and Mr. Rutledge. September 25, 1783, a 
committee consisting of Mr. Madison, Mr. 
Higginson, and Mr. Hamilton, to whom 
was referred a letter from Dr. Franklin of 
the 15th of April last, reported the draft 
of a proclamation, which was agreed to, 
announcing treaty with Sweden (this in 
Congress at Princeton).' 

On September 26 and 29, 1783, his name 
appears on several important committees, 
as, for instance, under date of Septem- 
ber 29, 1783. The committee consisting 
of Messrs. Duane, Rutledge, Fitzsimmons, 
Gerry, and Higginson, appointed to con- 
sider the late dispatches from the ministers 
of the United States at foreign courts, and 
to determine what means are necessary to 
be taken thereon, reported upon six points, 
all of which were sustained.^ 

His name, however, does not appear in 

' The full text of this treaty appears in Journal of Congress^ 
viii, 385. 

» Secret Journal of Congress, iii, 323, 342, 344, 354, 394, 395, 

397- 

[ 58 ] 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

the voting list after May 22, 1783, but it 
appears occasionally in connection with 
reports prepared at the homes of the 
respective members. Among these reports 
the two following, kindly furnished me 
by Worthington C. Ford, Esq., Chief of 
Division of Manuscripts in the Library 
of Congress, are hitherto unpublished 
and of some importance : — 

" Report of Mr. Higginson, Mr. A. Lee, 
Mr. S. Huntington. On Motion respect- 
ing Secy for foreign affairs, office. De- 
livered August 26, 1783. Read. Ent'^ — 
March 2, 1784 Mr. Remson elected 
under Secty to take charge of papers." 

"The Committee to whom were com- 
mitted the motions of Mr. Duane, and of 
Mr. S. Huntington relative to the Office 
for foreign Affairs are of Opinion that it 
is of the highest importance that a Sec- 
retary for that Office should be elected, 
and that in the mean time that papers be- 
[ 59 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

longing thereto should be so disposed of 
as that Congress may have recourse to 
them when occasion shall require it — the 
following Resolutions are submitted — 

" That the order of the Day for electing 
a Secretary for foreign Affairs be called 
for on Thursday next. 

" That a Committee be appointed forth- 
with, to take a list of the papers belong- 
ing to the Office for foreign Affairs and 
to deliver them when listed to the Sec- 
retary of Congress, who shall arrange and 
take care of them untill a Secretary for 
foreign Affairs shall be elected and ready 
to enter upon the Business of that Office." ' 

" Report of Mr. Higginson, Mr. Izard, Mr. 
B. Huntington on letter of Mr. H. Lau- 
rens of 17 June, and Mr. Carmichael of 
13 March, 1783. Delivered Sept. i. En- 
tered — read. This is superceded by the 
instructions passed Oct. 29 1783." 

From the MS. Papers of the Continental Congress, no 25, 
vol. ii, folio 247. 

[ 60 ] 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

" The Committee to whom were com- 
mitted the Letters from Mr. Lawrence 
[Laurens] and Mr. Carmichael &c &c, 
submit the following resolutions. 

"That Commissions be forthwith pre- 
pared and forwarded to John Adams, Ben- 
jamin Franklin, John Jay and Henry Law- 
rence Esqrs authorising them or any two 
or more of them to negotiate a Treaty 
of Amity & Commerce with the Court of 
great Britain upon terms of the most per- 
fect re[ci]procity and so as to render the 
Trade of these united States with Britain 
and her Dominions beneficial and respect- 
able — the Commercial regulations in said 
Treaty to be made as near as possible in 
conformity to the liberal principles con- 
tained in the Articles proposed by the 
ministers of the united States to Mr. Hart- 
ley on the 29th day of April last — the 
Treaty to continue for the Term of fifteen 
years and to be subject to the revision 
of Congress previous to its being ratified. 
[ 6. ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

And that they have liberty to extend the 
duration of such commercial regulations 
as may have been formed with Britain to 
a period sufficiently distant for revising 
and ratifying the said Treaty; or to agree 
upon new Regulations for that purpose as 
they shall judge most expedient. 

"That the said Commissioners or any 
one or more of them be authorised to 
negotiate with the Emperor of Morocco 
and such other States on the Coast of 
Barbary as may be necessary, for pro- 
curing Passports for the Vessels of the 
united States, and to apply if they think 
it expedient to such of the Powers in 
Europe as are in Amity with the united 
States for their assistance in such nego- 
ciations. 

"The Committee are of opinion that 
Treaties of Amity and Commerce should 
be formed with the Court of Portugal, the 
Emperor of Germany, the King of Naples 
and Sicily, and with the Grand Duke of 
.[ 62 ] 



THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 

Tuscany as soon as circumstances will 
permit. 

" They are also of Opinion that Mr. 
William McCormick should be informed 
that Congress can give him no decisive 
Answer upon the Subject of his memo- 
rial, and that if he is desirous of estab- 
lishing himself in his Business in any part 
of the united States he must apply to the 
Government of that particular State in 
which he wishes to reside." ' 

' From the MS. Papers of the Continental Congress, no. 19, 
vol. iii, folio 447. 



VI 

THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 
(SEPTEMBER, 1786) 

" A meeting of gentle lights without a name." — Sir John 
Suckling. 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

THE following letter from Stephen 
Higginson to John Adams has 
an especial interest as referring 
to the once celebrated Annapolis Conven- 
tion (September ii, 1786), which was, 
though seemingly abortive, and now al- 
most forgotten, a distinct step in the mo- 
mentous transition from the Articles of 
Confederation to the Constitution of the 
United States. 

It will be seen by this letter that Stephen 
Higginson was one of the proposed dele- 
gates from Massachusetts to Annapolis, 
not one of whom, however, actually at- 
tended; and this for some reason not 
now quite clear. The same was true of 
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and North 
Carolina, all of which States had gone 
[ 67 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

through the form of appointing delegates. 
Five States only were present through 
commissioners, these being Virginia, 
Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
New York. The fact that the numbers 
were so few, the powers of several dele- 
gations so limited, and the aspects of 
things so alarming, — since Shays' Rebel- 
lion was just impending, — these facts ap- 
parently caused the convention to adjourn 
after recommending the adoption of a 
plan, drawn up by Hamilton, that a con- 
vention of all the States be called for the 
purpose of rendering "the Constitution of 
the Federal Government adequate to the 
exigencies of the Union." 

This may seem an unimportant step, yet 
it led to the Constitutional Convention 
of 1787, which gave the nation its present 
mode of government. It will be seen 
that the letter gives us the point of view 
of Stephen Higginson. 

[ 68 ] 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

TO JOHN ADAMS ' 

Boston, July, 1786. 

Sir: 

Your obliging letter of 18 Feby — I 
duly received, to me it is extraordinary, 
that having a common Interest in a com- 
mercial View, and a Rival in France 
equally dangerous to both, no Arrange- 
ments can be made between us and the 
British for our mutual safety and advan- 
tage, it is not uncommon for Individuals 
to sacrifice their Interest to gratify their 
resentment; but it does not often happen 
that States, especially such as have had 
long experience in the School of politics, 
are so much led away by resentful feel- 
ings, it must surely be much against their 
national Interest and Character, for the 
British to suffer the most important na- 
tional advantages to be transferred from 
themselves to the French, when possessed 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 733. 
[ 69 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

of the means of preventing it with the 
greatest Ease. — It is very unfortunate for 
this State, that the narrow policy of Bri- 
tain so much affects our two Fisheries, 
which are our principal support, take 
these Staples from us, and the Commerce 
of Massachusetts will sink to almost no- 
thing, there is no State in the Union 
which suffers in any degree equal to this 
from the restrictions of Britain; these suf- 
ferings may however eventually produce 
great Good, by checking habits of luxury 
and dissipation, and teaching us the neces- 
sity of cultivating those of an opposite 
nature — we shall learn by experience 
that to be independent and happy, we 
must be industrious and frugal. — The 
Act for regulating the Trade of foreigners 
in our ports, which passed the last year, 
was adopted with great Coolness and met 
with much Opposition from Country Gen- 
tlemen. And finding that the States have 
not generally adopted similar restric- 
[ 70 ] 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

tions, and that Rhode-Island and Hamp- 
shire ' have repealed their Acts of Navi- 
gation, our Court have this Session sus- 
pended ours/ I have ever approved of 
the general principle of that Act, and 
wished that the Object of it might be at- 
tained j but convinced that many of the 
States would not be disposed to make a 
general restraining System and persuaded 
that partial restrictions could not produce 
the desired effect upon the Conduct of 
Britain, I at first doubted the propriety 
of the measure. But as no great Evil can 
result from its continuance till the Fall, 
to prevent the appearance of versatility, to 
keep up by our example the attention of 
the States to the Subject, and to enjoy the 
credit of having taken the lead, in case 
the commercial Convention which is to be 

' By act of February, 1786, the Rhode Island navigation act 
was suspended until Connecticut should pass one. 

^ By act of July 5, 1786, Massachusetts suspended her navi- 
gation act till the other States should pass similar statutes. 

[ 71 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

held in September' should recommend its 
being made a general System, I should 
not have gone so far as to suspend it. — 

The ostensible object of that Convention 
is the regulation of Commerce; but when 
I consider the men who are deputed from 
New- York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and 
the source from whence the proposition 
was made, I am strongly inclined to think 
political Objects are intended to be com- 
bined with commercial, if they do not prin- 
cipally engross their Attention, there will 
be from New-Yorke Mr. Duane, M"^ Ham- 
ilton, M"" Chancellor Livingstone, from 
Pennsylvania Mr. Robert Morris, M"" Fitz- 
simmons, M"" George Clymer from Virginia 
Mr Randolph, Mr. Madison, Judge Jones, 
and several others from those States of like 
political principles and characters, the 
Measure appears to have originated in 
Virginia and with M*" Maddison. the Men 

' The Annapolis Convention (1786); Higginson was chosen 
as a delegate, but declined to attend. 

[ 72 J 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

I have mentioned are all of them esteemed 
great Aristocrats, and their Constituents 
know that such is their Character — few of 
them have been in the commercial line, 
nor is it probable they know or care much 
about commercial Objects. — 

As this State from the nature and vari- 
ety of its Trade, is more likely to be af- 
fected by general commercial Arrange- 
ments, than any other of the States, some 
persons have been appointed to represent it 
in the proposed Convention; they are M' 
Lowell, M'^ Dana, M"^ Gerry, M"" Theo: 
Parsons, Mr. George Cabot, M' Sullivan 
and myself. If it be practicable to effect 
a general regulation of Trade, and to har- 
monise the apparently variant Interests of 
the States, it will probably be done by the 
Convention. — I shall be very happy to 
have it effected, as we may then make an 
impression upon the British favorable to 
our Views; but this I rather hope than 
expect. — If the British are not blind to 
[ 73 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

their own Interests, or unduly wedded to 
their own Opinions, they will seriously 
view the Arrangements of France, to sup- 
ply us with their Manufactures and receive 
our Oil and Ashes in return — the Object 
of the proposed Convention, and the dis- 
position in their States from which it re- 
sults, ought also to engage their atten- 
tion.'— 

We learn from the Knox papers, pre- 
served in such admirable shape in the 
library of the " New England Historic 
Genealogical Society" that Massachusetts 
influences were brought strongly to bear 
upon Congress in order to increase the 
troops in service in New England — this 
being accomplished by the rumor, devised 
by somebody and spread freely, of a pro- 
spective Indian war. This we discover by 

' Austin's Life of Elbridge Gerry, ii, 5, gives as the list ap- 
pointed " Lieut, governour Gushing, Elbridge Gerry, Francis 
Dana and Stephen Higginson." 

[ 74 ] 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

a letter from Knox and another in reply to 
it from Stephen Higginson. The Indian 
war, apparently, went no farther, but the 
increase in the army on that account helped 
to extinguish the danger from Shays' Rebel- 
lion, while only increasing the solicitude 
which was preparing the way for the formal 
union of the Colonies into States. The 
following is Knox's letter: — 

[to STEPHEN higginson] 

New York 22 October 1786 
My dear Sir 

You will find by thenclosed [sic^ paper 
that my conjectures about the Indian war, 
were right — Congress were so with the 
apprehension that they have with great 
unanimity resolved to augment the troops 
now in service to a legionary corps of 2040 
non commissioned officers and privates. 

Although the dispositions of Congress on 
this occasion are perfect yet their treasury 
is poor indeed. Recourse must be had for 
[ 75 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

the immediate exigencies to the monied 
men. The board of treasury will devise 
some plan for the reembursement of the 
Losers but exertions might be made & 
something might be hazarded, by the rich. 
Knowing your zeal for Republic wel- 
fare, and your knowledge of our warm 
Boston patriots I write you this in con- 
fidence that you may be making some ar- 
rangements in your own mind to facilitate 
that application [illegible] 
I am my dear Sir 

with respect & esteem 

Your very humble Svt 
H Knox' 

This letter was answered as follows: — 

Boston No v"". 12. 1786 
My dear Sir 

Your Letter 22*^ ult: by Capt. north I 
rec.*^ the news was proper, upon the view 
of a War with the Indians & the con- 
sequent requisition of Congress, obtained 

' JiTnox Papers, xix, 31. 
[ 76 ] 




GENERAL HENRY KNOX 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

very speedily & with more ease than I ex- 
pected, you have in this case taken the 
best ground, the money wanted for the 
men will, I trust, be soon raised, the Trea- 
surer has just opened his Loan; & though 
monied men, like others, are more ready 
at profession than action, yet, I think their 
feelings & a regard to their beloved pro- 
perty will induce them to furnish what is 
immediately wanted. — The present mo- 
ment is very favorable to the forming fur- 
ther & necessary arrangements, for increas- 
ing the dignity & energy of Government, 
what has been done, must be used as a 
Stock upon which the best Fruits are to 
be ingrafted, the public mind is now in 
a fit State, & will shortly I think become 
more so, to come forward with a System 
competent to the great purpose of all Civil 
arrangements, that of promoting & securing 
the happiness of Society, as far as I can 
be conducive to a right improvement of 
this disposition, so very favorable an open- 
[ 11 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

ing shall not be lost. — I saw Capt. north 
but a moment, I intended a private mo- 
ment with him, but I was by many incon- 
venient circumstances deprived of it. I 
have to know what passes in the World, 
but I had at this moment rather not appear 
to know it. — I will inform you how things 
go on & shall be gratified by any proper 
communications. With respect I have the 
honor to be Sir 

Your very humb Serv*^ 
S: H: — 
P. S. shall I pray you to forward 
the inclosed to Princeton (?)•' 



[Note], — The subject of the Annapolis Con- 
vention having been passed by with so little notice 
the following list of casual references to it may well 
be quoted from Barry's History of ATassachusetts^ 
Commonwealth Period [vol. iii], 266, 267 : — 

Madison Papers, ii, 694, 695, 697-703. 

Sparks's Washington, ix, 507, 508. 

Marshall's Washington, v, 90, 91. 
' Knox Papers, xix, 50. 

[ 78 ] 



THE ANNAPOLIS CONVENTION 

Curtis's History of the Constitution, i, 340, 343, 345, 

346, 347- 
Life of Hamilton, ii, 374, 375. 
Austin's Life of Geny, ii, 4. 
Bradford, ii, 253. 

Worcester Magazine, nos. 27 and 28, for Oct. 1786. 
Elliot's Debates i, 116. 
Letters of the Federal Farmer, 7. 
Hamilton's Works, i, 432, ii, 336. 
Sparks's Washington, ix, 223, 226, 513. 
Marshall's Washington, v, 97. 
Statesman's Manual, ii, 1 501-1505. 
The Federalist, no xl, 

Pitkin's Statistics of the United States, 32. 
North American Review, for October, 1827, 261- 

266. 
Hildreth's United States, iii, 478. 



VII 

SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

OR 

"THE GENTILITY'S WAR" 

1786 

"This was the gentility's war." — Bellamy's The Duke of 
Stockbridge, p. 313. 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

Shays' Rebellion " was one of 
those historic events which gain 
instead of lose their importance 
in history as time goes on. Of the Indian 
war, for which Congress made nominal 
appropriations in 1786, we hear little 
afterwards; but a more serious contest 
— which seemed at first formidable, then 
trivial, and once more important — was 
impending. As a rule, a war of five years 
enriches a small class of the community, 
usually the mercantile or manufacturing 
class, and impoverishes the people at 
large. Paper currenc}^ falls in value, pub- 
lic debts increase and private debts are 
rapidly accumulated, popular conventions 
begin to be held, and if these accomplish 
nothing the courts are blamed and per- 
haps attacked. All this was eminently 
[ 83 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

true of the American Revolution, and by 
no one in New England was this result 
better foreseen, or more clearly pointed 
out, than by Stephen Higginson. This 
will be seen in such letters as the fol- 
lowing, addressed by him to John Adams 
in July, 1786: — 

"The habits of indolence and dissi- 
pation contracted during the War, are 
very much against our making a right 
improvement of the advantages we have 
in possession, the people at large have 
for several years lived in a manner much 
more expensive and luxurious, than they 
have Ability to support, and their Ideas 
can not now be brought to comport, with 
their real situation and means of living, 
hence, there is nothing they now so 
much dread, as the parting with any por- 
tion of that property, the whole of which 
they feel to be incompetent to satisfy 
their Desires, this is an Evil it is true, 
which will work its own Cure; and was 
[ 84 ] 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

there force in our Government to compel 
the payment of Taxes, the Cure might be 
accelerated, but in our situation, with- 
out Energy and without any Funds be- 
side what may be drawn from the people 
by Taxes, it is a serious and important 
Question, whether our Government may 
not get unhinged, and a revolution take 
place, before the Cure be effected, and 
the people at large discover, that to se- 
cure their liberties and the great bulk of 
their property a certain portion of the 
latter must be parted with, we appear to 
be verging fast to a Crisis. A change of 
Ideas and measures must soon happen, 
either from conviction or from necessity; 
when it does take place, I hope it will be 
for the better; it will then behove every 
man of property and influence to aim at 
giving the Tide a right direction." ' 

Shays' insurrection broke out in West- 
ern Massachusetts in August, 1786; an 

' American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 740. 
[ 85 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

insurrection which carried with it for a 
time the sympathy, according to Von 
Hoist, of one half the population of the 
State; and which at one time, according 
to General Lincoln, brought out 12,000 
rebels under arms. Most of those in the 
ranks had been soldiers in the Revolu- 
tion, and Captain Daniel Shays himself 
had been an officer in that war. It was 
a period of extreme poverty, after a great 
war; the imports of the nation were three 
times as great as its exports ; gold was 
growing very scarce, and paper money 
was almost valueless. Bargaining took 
place chiefly through the scanty products 
of long-neglected farms; and the editor 
of the Worcester " Spy " took subscrip- 
tions in salt pork. In Virginia, tobacco 
was the chief medium of retail com- 
merce, and in North Carolina, whiskey.' 
The annual tax in Massachusetts amounted 
to an average of $200 to a family. The 

' Bellamy's Duke of Stockbridge, vii. 

[ 86 ] 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

winters were cold as now, and had only 
open fires to combat them; on Sunday 
the meeting-houses were without even 
a stove, and the ministers wore gowns and 
bands outside their overcoats, if at all, and 
turned the notes of their sermons with 
thick woolen mittens on their hands.' 

It was not strange that the rebellion be- 
gan in the western part of the State, then 
and always its poorest part; and that its 
peculiar object of hostility was found in 
the sessions of the legal courts which were 
largely broken up by it as far east as Wor- 
cester and even Concord.'' It was also 
a period when social classes were strongly 
divided, this division being still based on 
the conditions prevailing before the Re- 
volution; the gentry wearing wigs, silk 
stockings, and silver shoe buckles, and 
the lower classes wearing corduroy coats 
and leather knee breeches, and going 
largely barefooted in summer. In short, 

' Bellamy's Duke of Stockbridge, 284. ^ Ibid. 203. 

[ 87 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

the insurrection was to a large extent 
what Mr. Bellamy in his " Duke of Stock- 
bridge," the only vivid description of it, 
calls it — "The Gentility's War." 

A mob met on August 22, 1786, at Hat- 
field, Massachusetts, and severely censured 
the action of the courts. The outcome 
was that on the last Tuesday of August 
about 1500 insurgents assembled under 
arms at Northampton and took possession 
of the court-house. In spite of a proclama- 
tion from the Governor, the same thing 
was repeated at Worcester by a body 
numbering 300 and upwards. Similar at- 
tempts, more or less successful, were made 
in the counties of Bristol and Berkshire, 
and finally in Middlesex. 

The alarm spread rapidly to Boston. 
Governor Bowdoin issued a proclamation 
calling the Legislature together, to meet 
on September 27, 1786. In the interval 
the leading men in Boston summoned a 
meeting at Faneuil Hall on September 9, 
[ 88 ] 




JAMES BOWDOIN 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

at which Samuel Adams was moderator. 
A committee consisting of Samuel Adams, 
James Sullivan, Dr. Charles Jarvis, Ste- 
phen Higginson, Edward Paine, and Jon- 
athan Jackson (Higginson's partner) were 
appointed to prepare an address to the 
Governor expressing disapproval of the 
riots in the interior and readiness to assist 
the government in every measure taken to 
preserve the constitutional rights of the 
people. The address was presently re- 
ported and also a circular to the several 
towns, after the old Revolutionary form.' 
In spite of all this there came the out- 
break led by Daniel Shays. Hardly attain- 
ing the dignity of a single pitched battle, 
it yet, for a time, broke up courts and sub- 
stituted the sweeping excitements of mob 
law, while the promptest and most ener- 
getic action was needed to suppress it. 
The need of its suppression brought to- 

^ Vf eWs's Life of Samuel Adams, iii, 225; Barry's History 
of Massachusetts, iii, 230-238. 

[ 89 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

gether Hancock and Samuel Adams, who 
had hitherto disagreed and had both been 
opposed to the Constitution in its original 
draft. When the insurgent forces had come 
as far eastward as Concord, it seemed time 
for energetic action. The Governor and 
Council ordered that warrants should be 
issued for arresting the head men of the 
insurgents in Middlesex and imprisoning 
them without bail; and for the execution 
of these warrants a party of horsemen who 
had voluntarily associated in defense of 
the government, under Colonel Benjamin 
Hichborn, was ordered forth early in the 
morning of the 29th of November, 1786. 
The force under his command proceeded 
immediately to Concord taking recruits on 
the way, until they amounted to about one 
hundred. Two of the leading insurgents, 
Parker and Page, were arrested, but Shat- 
tuck, the principal leader, had escaped. 
Amid a violent snowstorm at midnight 
the party marched on to Shattuck's house 
[ 90 ] 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

in Groton, where they found that he had 
fled to the woods, whither he was pursued 
and discovered, not however surrendering 
until he had received several wounds. 

The " Independent Chronicle " ' gives 
this extract from a Worcester letter dated 
two days previously: — 

" Too much credit cannot be given the 
officers and men on this occasion who per- 
formed a long and disagreeable march, a 
great part of the way in the night, in a 
heavy snowstorm." ..." Groton is about 
43 miles from this town, so that what with 
the direct course and the chase which 
they had before the seizure of Shattuck, 
who immediately fled to the woods, upon 
being discovered behind a barn, many of 
the company must have rode near one 
hundred miles from Wednesday morning 
to Thursday evening, and were some of 
them nine hours on horse-back without 
scarcely dismounting in that time." This 

' Independent Chronicle, December 7, 1786, 

[ 91 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

was at least a tolerably severe ordeal for 
hitherto peaceful citizens. 

The object of the warrant being thus 
obtained, the party came back to Boston 
on the next day but one after their depar- 
ture, having penetrated the country for 
nearly fifty miles. " The short time in 
which this excursion was performed with 
so large a body, and the extreme severity 
of the weather, rendered the execution of 
this service as honourable to the gentlemen 
who subjected themselves to it, as their 
motives in the undertaking were commend- 
able. 

" This expedition was a very important 
event. . . . The advantages derived from 
the capture of the prisoners were material. 
The heart of the insurrection in Middlesex 
was broken by so sudden a stroke, while 
the friends to good order received a con- 
fidence from the strength and success of 
their cause." ' 

' Minot's History of Insurrections in Massachusetts, pp. 7 7, 78. 
[ 92 ] 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

All this would have no bearing upon the 
theme of the present work, but for the fact 
which seems unquestionable that Stephen 
Higginson went as second in command in 
this extemporized party of rough riders. 
The force of early habits, one might sup- 
pose, would have been enough to keep 
a sailor from all direct share in a midnight 
foray in a snowstorm, particularly on horse- 
back; but we must remember how uni- 
versal it was for the gentry of that period 
to take all their journeys in that way, and 
that he had doubtless gone to and from the 
seat of government in no other manner. 
No reference to the subject is to be found 
among his letters, and only one line of evi- 
dence upon the subject exists anywhere, 
but that seems quite conclusive. A book 
was published in the year 1834, entitled 
" Familiar Letters on the Public Men of the 
Revolution, including Events, 1783-1815." 
The author of this book was William 
Sullivan, whose father, James Sullivan, 
[ 93 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

was Governor of Massachusetts. William 
Sullivan himself was born in 1774 and died 
in 1837. He graduated at Harvard in 
1792 and received the degree of LL.D. 
in 1826. He had held many public offices 
in Massachusetts, was a brigadier-general 
of militia and a member of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amer- 
ican Philosophical Society, and the Mas- 
sachusetts Historical Society. No family 
in Massachusetts stood higher for a series 
of generations than the Sullivans, and 
I mention these details because it is 
through him and him alone that we have 
authority for the statement that Stephen 
Higginson did military service at the time 
of Shays' Rebellion, nor does even he tell 
this of his own knowledge. It is however 
incidentally mentioned, as if a well-known 
fact, in a letter stated as having been 
written by a personal friend of the late 
"Judge Lowell" and of the late "Mr. 
Higginson," mention being put in the form 
[ 94 ] 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

of a question addressed to General Hich- 
born: "Did you not go out with Stephen 
Higginson as your second in command, to 
suppress the insurrection of 1786 and did 
you ever lisp a word against him till 
now ? " ' 

I have tried in vain to ascertain who was 
the writer of this supposed letter to Gen- 
eral Hichborn, but it seems altogether 
probable that it was General James Sul- 
livan, eldest son of Governor Sullivan, 
this son being a man who was himself en- 
gaged in the pursuit of Shays, and indeed 
died a few years later from the fatigues of 
this very contest.^ It leaves little doubt, 
at any rate, that Stephen Higginson was 
at least a member of the expedition whose 
story has been briefly told. 

It can also hardly be doubted that he 
was at least one of those Boston mer- 
chants, those " first characters " who saved 

' Sullivan's Familiar Letters, pp. 379, 380. 

• N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register, xix, 304. 

[ 95 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

the standing of the State, as recorded by 
General Lincoln in the following passage 
of his report to the President: — 

Feby. 22. 1787 
Thus far I had written as early as 
December, and should have forwarded the 
letter at that time, but had some hopes 
that the Governor and Council would 
take some measures for crushing the in- 
surgents. This however hung in suspense 
until the beginning of January. It was then 
agreed to raise two thousand men in the 
Counties of Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex, 
and four companies of Artillery ; twelve 
hundred men in the County of Hampshire; 
and twelve hundred men in the County 
of Worcester. The command of the troops 
was to be given to me, being the first 
Major General in the State. At this mo- 
ment, when every part of the system was 
digested, and nothing remained but the of- 
fering the order to raise the men, and carry 
it into execution, information was received 
[ 96 ] 



SHAYS' INSURRECTION 

from the Commissary General that the 
necessary supplies could not be obtained 
without a considerable sum in cash, 
which was not within the power of the 
Treasurer to borrow. On my hearing this 
from the Governor, I went immediately to 
a club of the first characters in Boston, who 
met that night, and laid before them a full 
state of matters, and suggested to them the 
importance of their becoming loaners of 
part of their property, if they wished to 
secure the remainder. A subscription was 
set on foot in the morning, headed by the 
Governor. Before night the cloud which 
twenty-four hours before hung over us 
disappeared as we had an assurance of 
obtaining the sum we wanted. ' 

From a gathering like this, we may well 
be sure the leading merchant of Boston 
was not absent. 

^ Letters of General Lincoln to Washington in Sparks 
MSS., no. 57, pp. 6, 7. The original letter is in the Depart- 
ment of State at Washington. 



VIII 

THE NINE STATES IN 
CONVENTION 

(1787) 

" Should there be a general Convention in May, and they 
proceed to form a federal Constitution, I wish to have them 
empowered to perfect the system, and give it immediate oper- 
ation, if 7iine states in Convention shall agree to it, without a 
reference to Congress or their Constituents " — Stephen Hig- 
ginson. Letter to General H. Knox, February 8, 1787. 



THE NINE STATES IN 
CONVENTION 

IT is needless to pursue farther the 
personal relation, if any, of Stephen 
Higginson to the current events of 
Shays' Rebellion. The whole history of 
that reall}^ important contest has at last 
been well written for the first time by 
Joseph Parker Warren and published in 
the "American Historical Review" for 
October, 1905. It has also been sketched 
more lightly by the late Edward Bellamy, 
whose novel called " The Duke of Stock- 
bridge, a Romance of Shays' Rebellion," 
was written by him, as is now known, 
before the more famous novels that were 
produced by him in later years, when his 
socialistic tendencies had made merely 
historical work seem to him unimportant. 
But while immediate events were pass- 
[ loi ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

ing, Stephen Higginson's mind was busily 
occupied, and his judgment now seems, 
on publication of his correspondence, to 
have been clearer and firmer than that 
of any public man of his time, unless it 
be in case of President Washington and 
General Knox, the latter of whom was 
directly and Washington more indirectly 
under the influence of Higginson. 

We see by the following extract from 
a letter to General Knox, Secretary of 
War, how carefully Stephen Higginson 
watched the course of events, and how 
clearly he saw, what many others did not, 
that the disturbances under Shays were 
not only, in his phrase, " much more 
deeply rooted " than was apprehended, 
but that they had at least the advantage 
of furnishing the very strongest argument 
in favor of a more efficient general gov- 
ernment than a mere confederacy could 
ever furnish. The following is his state- 
ment of the matter: — 

[ 102 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

Boston, February 13th, 1787. 
The expedition under Gen' Lincoln has 
been very successful, the opposition to 
Government is at present prostrated; but 
the disaffection is evidently much more 
deeply rooted, and extensive, than was ap- 
prehended; and when the Army shall be 
withdrawn, rebellion may again soon erect 
its daring Standards and openly defy our 
feeble Government, the continuation of 
our Army in the field, will not only con- 
sume the funds which have been furnished 
by a voluntary Loan, but will retard the 
enlistments of men into Jackson's Corps, 
these circumstances will much impede the 
perfecting of that body of men for the field; 
and as large Sums are necessary for sup- 
porting the militia, which can not be raised 
but in the way of Loan, I fear that the 
money wanted for cloathing the men of 
Jackson's Corps will not easily be obtained. 
Lincoln's expedition will be so much more 
tedious and expensive than we appre- 
[ 103 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

hended at first, as to call for all the Money 
that can be speedily raised by Loan, in- 
stead of leaving a good Sum, from what is 
already subscribed, for Jackson's use. — 
You will endeavour no doubt to draw 
strong Arguments from the insurrection 
in this State in favour of an efficient Gen- 
eral Government for the Union. As all the 
States are at least equally exposed with 
this to such Commotions, and none of them 
are capable of the exertions we have made, 
they will have reason to fear the worst 
consequences to themselves, unless the 
Union shall have force enough to give the 
same effectual aid in a like case. — Those 
who now have the administration of Gov- 
ernment in the several States and for the 
Union, must seize every opportunity to 
increase its energy and stability; or Insur- 
gents will soon rise up, and take the reins 
from them, this consideration, which I take 
to be founded in truth, and the nature of 
things, should guard those in office and 
[ 104 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

power from an undue and ill timed mod- 
esty, as to the means to be used for increas- 
ing the powers of Government, and the 
manner of exercising them when ac- 
quired — 

These are Sentiments too free and bold 
to be, as yet, very freely and generally 
held forth; but the time is coming, and 
every man in his sphere should contribute 
to accelerate its arrival, when they will be 
very popular and generally practiced upon. 
But, as it is yet at some distance, you will, 
I am persuaded, not too openly hand them 
out, even as those of another. I write you 
see in confidence, and I remain respect- 

fully 

Your hum^ Serv* 

Stephen Higginson* 

This inference may have been drawn 
by others also, though perhaps not stated by 
any one else so forcibly. Congress, at any 
rate, passed a resolution on February 21, 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 751, 752, 
[ 105 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

recommending a convention of the states. 
On February 22, the Massachusetts Leg- 
islature resolved that delegates be sent, — 
these delegates having been already con- 
ditionally appointed, — and Stephen Hig- 
ginson says approvingly of this action, 
"The [members of the] legislature have 
behaved well and conducted [themselves] 
with spirit." He writes in a letter to Na- 
than Dane, March 3, 1787, as follows: — 

... It is clear in my mind, that we cannot 
long exist under our present system; and 
that unless we soon acquire more force to 
the Union by some means or other, Insur- 
gents will arise and eventually take the 
reins from us; I am for trying any meas- 
ure that promises even a possibility of suc- 
cess. We must either brace up the powers 
of the Union to a degree capable of sup- 
porting and encouraging the affairs of the 
nation with dignity and energy, and this 
by an act of deliberation and choice or we 
[ 106 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

shall inevitably be thrown into general 
confusion and convulsions, which will re- 
sult in one or more Governments, estab- 
lished with the loss of much blood, violent 
and despotic in its nature, and the effect 
of necessity and chance. In this situation, 
when no other mode is suggested which 
affords even a gleam of hope, I am clearly 
of opinion that to decline a proposition of 
this kind, though the effect may be very 
uncertain, would be imprudent — for I can- 
not see that, in any event, the result of 
the Convention can be against us. If no 
system can there be advised to save us 
from confusion and distress, and we must 
take our chance for what may arise out of 
a general disorder, the sooner we are 
brought to a decision upon this point the 
better; it is surely uncomfortable to remain 
longer in our present situation, and the 
sooner and more rapidly disorder over- 
takes us, the shorter will its duration be 
and of less extent will probably be the 
[ 107 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

political distress which will result. While 
we have any hope of warding off the evil 
by means of a convention, we shall not 
patiently submit to a temporary anarchy, 
nor propose to claim any advantages from 
a state of convulsion; but having tried the 
experiment and found that our National 
Government must arise out of necessity 
alone, and be the effect of confusion, we 
shall then give way to dire necessity, and 
with vigilance turn every event to a good 
purpose. — 

The papers will have informed you of 
the doings of the Government — the Leg- 
islature have behaved well and conducted 
with spirit — they have adopted an ener- 
getic system of policy with respect to the 
rebels, perhaps in some instances they 
have carried their resentment too far. the 
rebellion appears to be in a good degree 
crushed, the force of the rebels is dis- 
persed. But the seeds yet remain in the 
soil, the spirit of faction and rebellion is 
[ io8 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

far from being subdued; nor can it be 
rooted out without the cooperation of the 
other N. E States — while our rebels can 
find a shelter in those States, they will not 
only retain this disposition themselves, but 
they will communicate it to the Citizens 
of those States, whose minds are as prone 
to rebellion as ours, and from the same 
causes, the evil appears to me to arize 
naturally and necessarily out of our case, 
the people of the interior parts of these 
States have by far too much political know- 
ledge and too strong a relish for unre- 
strained freedom, to be governed by our 
feeble system, and too little acquaintance 
with real sound policy or rational freedom 
and too little virtue to govern themselves, 
they have become too well acquainted with 
their own weight in the political scale, 
under such governments as ours and have 
too high a taste for luxury and dissipation, 
to sit down contented in their proper line, 
when they see others possessed of much 
[ 109 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

more property than themselves, with these 
feelings and sentiments, they will not be 
quiet while such distinctions exist as to 
rank and property; and sensible of their 
own force, they will not rest easy till they 
possess the reins of Government, and have 
divided property with their betters, or 
they shall be compelled by force to sub- 
mit to their proper stations and mode of 
living. 

Which of these events are the most 
likely to happen, and how, is in my mind 
very uncertain. The end of this rebellion 
both as to the time and manner of it equally 
so of course. 

I have not time to add, only to desire 
you to forward the inclosed letter and some 
news papers if you have any to spare to 
my son Nat. the next leisure hour I will 
write you again 

Adieu yours &c 

S HiGGINSON' 

' American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 753, 754. 
[ "O ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

It was easy enough to see the dangers 
threatened to New England by Shays' 
Rebellion, but it was not every one who 
saw that the only remedy for such trou- 
bles must be found in a more complete 
union of the states. Of those who saw 
this, Stephen Higginson was plainly one 
of the leaders. I have been unable to find 
that in any other correspondence of that 
day the precise point at issue was so 
clearly stated as in his. 

He had written on the subject more 
fully, a few weeks before, to General 
Knox : — 

Boston, February 8th, 1787. 

Gen. H. Knox 
Dear Sir. 

Your Letter of 28th last Month I 
have received, and am pleased to find 
that your Sentiments and my own are so 
exactly coincident as to the subject of it; 
and there is so good a prospect of a gen- 
eral Convention in May, as you have 
[ III ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

represented. As early as '83, while I was 
at Congress, I pressed upon Mr. Maddi- 
son and others the Idea of a special Con- 
vention, for the purpose of revising the 
Confederation, and increasing the powers 
of the Union; the obtaining of which, we 
all agreed to be essential to our national 
dignity and happiness. But they were as 
much opposed to this Idea, as I was to 
the measures they were then pursuing, 
to effect, as they said, the same thing. 
They have, however, now adopted the 
Idea, and have come forward with a 
proposition to attempt practising upon it. 
It is an agreed, and, as I conceive, a 
clear point, that the Confederation is in- 
competent to the purposes for which it 
was established, the managing the Affairs 
of the Union. Powers delineated on paper 
cannot alone be sufficient, the Union must 
not only have the right to make Laws and 
requisitions, but it must have the power 
also of compelling obedience thereto, 
[ 112 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

otherwise our federal Constitution will be 
a mere dead letter. 

This State entered into the measure of 
appointing a general Convention the last 
year with much readiness; but the Senti- 
ments delivered to the two houses by Mr. 
King and Mr. Dane, have produced a great 
change in the disposition of the members. 
Those Gentlemen, I fancy, have now dif- 
ferent Ideas of the matter, and will not 
now think there is so great a resemblance 
between our County Conventions, in their 
views and principles, and that proposed to 
be held at Philadelphia in May, as they 
then thought, nor will they now imagine 
the same danger can result to the Union 
from the latter, as our experience has 
proved was justly apprehended from the 
former to this Commonwealth. — I hope 
that the two houses will this Session come 
into the measure, and appoint Delegates; 
but I have some doubts, whether they can 
[ 113 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

so soon be brought off from the sentiments 
they have imbibed from Mr. King and Mr. 
Dane. 

If a delegation should take place, Mr. 
King will probably be in it, was I to nom- 
inate, I should write thus " King, Lowell, 
Dana, Parsons and Gerry." Mr. Jackson, 
Mr. Cabot and others if they would engage 
might be added, or substituted in case of 
failure. As to myself I am out of the ques- 
tion, having neither qualities nor leisure 
for the Business. 

Should there be a general Convention 
in May, and they proceed to form a federal 
Constitution, I wish to have them empow- 
ered to perfect the system, and give it im- 
mediate operation, if nine states in Conven- 
tion shall agree to it, without a reference 
to Congress, or their Constituents — for 
much time must otherwise be lost, and 
perhaps such a difference of Sentiment 
may arise, as to the report, as may entirely 
defeat the object. Next to this, I should 
[ "4 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

prefer having their report referred to Con- 
gress, and if there approved of by nine 
States, they to be authorized to give it 
immediate operation. But I fear the States 
cannot be brought to either of these points. 

Your very hum'l Servant 

Stephen Higginson ' 

In the opinion of that careful historian 
Jameson, who prepared the report of the 
" Historical Manuscripts Commission " of 
the American Historical Association for 
1896, this letter contained the first sugges- 
tion of the precise method by which the 
United States Constitution was finally es- 
tablished and the Confederation, whose 
defects Higginson had pointed out so 
clearly, came to an end. On February 21, 
1787, a resolution was moved and carried 
in Congress recommending a convention to 
meet in Philadelphia on the second Monday 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 745, 747, 
748. 

[ 115 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

of May " for the purpose of revising the 
Articles of Confederation, and reporting to 
Congress, and the several legislatures, such 
alterations and provisions therein as shall, 
when agreed to in Congress and confirmed 
by the States, render the federal Constitu- 
tion adequate to the exigencies of govern- 
ment and the preservation of the Union." ' 
As a result of this action of Congress 
the representatives of twelve States assem- 
bled, Rhode Island being alone unrepre- 
sented. In regard to the selection of mem- 
bers from Massachusetts, Judge Sullivan 
wrote thus to Rufus King on September 
25 : " Five are to be chosen. Who they 
will be is very uncertain. Dana and Gerry 
are on nearly all the lists ; you are on many; 
Higginson and Lowell on some, and also 
Gorham. He objects to all lawyers ; others 
to members of Congress. The merchants 
say it is all a matter of commerce, and that 
merchants are the men. I have the honor 

' Story's Commentaries of the Constitution (ed. 1833), p. 107. 
[ 116 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

to be mentioned, but shall not be chosen, 1 
and should not go if I were. The choice 
will be this week." ' The delegates from 
Massachusetts elected were Francis Dana, 
Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, Cakb 
Strong, and Rufus King.^ Dana, however, 
did not attend; Higginson had declined, 
as he was, according to his kinsman 
Lowell, in the habit of doing, where pos- 
sible. 

It is noticeable that at the same time 
when this convention was being held, 
the "American Museum" at Philadelphia 
(edited by Matthew Carey) contained an 
address to Congress from fifteen mer- 
chants of Boston, apparently appointed 
by a public meeting, pointing out the 
inconveniences endured by American 
commerce and lamenting the unfortunate 
delinquency of some States in the Union 

' Amory's Sullivan, i, 218. 

* See also Barry's History of Massachusetts, iii, 270; 
Curtis's History of the Constitution, i, 516-518. 

[ "7 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

in withholding the necessary powers from 
Congress. John Hancock headed the list 
and Stephen Higginson was one of the 
signers. The same number of the "Amer- 
ican Museum " contained an editorial re- 
flecting indignantly on Rhode Island for 
establishing a mint of her own, while 
another contribution contrasted her with 
Vermont and proposed her dismember- 
ment. 

General Washington, it is believed, was 
induced by Shays' Rebellion to attend the 
Constitutional Convention,' about which 
he had also written, " I highly approve of 
all the defensive and precautionary meas- 
ures that have been adopted, and wish 
they had been more energetic." ^ After 
long debate the plan of the present Con- 
stitution was adopted; and the conven- 
tion, in voting to lay it before Congress, 

* CmxHs's History of the Constitutioji, I, ^00 \ Sparks's Writ- 
ings of Washitigton, ix, 253. 

* G'ibhs's Administration of Washington and Adams, ii, 60. 

[ "8 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

further proposed that it should afterwards 
be submitted to a delegate convention in 
each State for its ratification. It also pro- 
vided that so soon as nine States had rati- 
fied this Constitution, Congress should fix 
a day for the choice of presidential elect- 
ors. This especial proposal as to the 
number of votes made requisite for an 
acceptance of the Constitution by the 
nation proceeded, as we have seen, from 
Stephen Higginson. It is to be noticed, 
moreover, that Story points out in his final 
narrative of these events that " The alarm- 
ing insurrection then existing in Massa- 
chusetts, without doubt, had no small share 
in producing this result." ' It was by actual 
service in that insurrection that Stephen 
Higginson had learned the lesson as to the 
need of a stronger government. 

All this situation now brings us to the 
" conciliatory resolutions " drawn up by 
Theophilus Parsons of Massachusetts and 

* Story's Commentaries of the Constitution (ed. 1833), p. 107. 

[ "9 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

presented before the convention of that 
State on January 31, 1788.' On that day, 
John Hancock, who had been detained 
by illness, real or nominal, for a few days, 
took the chair, and brought in what was 
called by the newspapers of the day the 
"conciliatory proposition," the original 
draft of which was found among Han- 
cock's papers in Parsons's own hand- 
writing after his death. The resolutions 
now introduced silenced the chief oppo- 
sition among the delegates by begin- 
ning with this section: "First. That it 
be explicitly declared, that all powers not 
expressly delegated to Congress are re- 
served to the several States, to be by 
them exercised.'"' Even these amend- 
ments only secured the passage of the 
whole instrument by a majority of 19 out 
of 355 votes cast; but when once adopted 
the leading opponents gave in their adher- 

' Parsons's Life of Parsons, p. 68. 
^ Ibid. p. 67. 

[ 120 ] 



NINE STATES IN CONVENTION 

ence to it at once. The new Constitu- 
tion was now virtually established, though 
still subject to vote by several other States. 
In Boston there was especial rejoicing; 
there were meetings, processions, dinners, 
and fireworks. A ballad sung about the 
streets summed it up thus: — 

Then 'Squire Hancock, like a man 

Who dearly loves the nation, 
By a concil'atory plan. 

Prevented much vexation. 

Yankee doodle, keep it up ! 
Yankee doodle, dandy ! 
Mind the music and the step. 
And w^ith the girls be handy.* 

* Parsons's Life of Parsons., p. 69. 



IX 

LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

(•789) 



King Agis said, " The Lacedaemonians are not wont to ask 
how many, but where the enemy are." — Plutarch. 



LACO AND HIS .LETTERS 

THE eminently candid editor of 
Stephen Higginson's letters, for 
publication by the American 
Historical Association, while pronouncing 
Higginson's views on public affairs to be 
"temperate and far-seeing," adds, with 
some justice, "The sureness and serenity 
of his judgment was, indeed, much dimin- 
ished by partisanship. The reputed author 
of the ^Laco' letters was never just to 
Hancock, to the anti-Federalists of 1788, 
or to the ^Jacobins' of 1795 and 1798."' 
The " Laco " Letters were published 
anonymously, after the fashion of that day, 
in the " Massachusetts Centinel " during 
February and March, 1789, and were re- 
printed in a pamphlet in the following 
year. They were aimed at the richest man 
in Boston, who was also the first signer of 

' American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 708. 
[ 125 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

the Declaration of Independence. It is 
worth while, before giving selections from 
them, to quote also a candid estimate made 
by that careful critic, George S. Hillard, 
not of Hancock directly, but of one whose 
views of Hancock were quite as severe 
as Stephen Higginson's, namely, James 
Savage, the eminent historian. In writing 
his sketch of Savage's character for the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, Mr. 
Hillard's opinion was summed up as fol- 
lows. After speaking of Mr. Savage's 
severity on Cotton Mather he goes on: — 
". . . Especially there were two men, 
in his [Savage's] own State, one living in 
the seventeenth and one in the eighteenth 
century, toward whom his feelings were 
akin to personal antipathy: these were 
Cotton Mather and John Hancock. In the 
case of Cotton Mather, his grounds of of- 
fence were his credulity, his rashness of 
statement, and, above all, his habits of 
carelessness and inaccuracy. . . . 
[ 126 ] 




JOHN HANCOCK 



LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

" His objections to John Hancock were 
of a different kind, though they may be 
traced back to his consistent and invincible 
love of truth. He felt keenly the difference 
between what he deemed Hancock's real 
character and that conceded to him by 
public estimation. He considered him as 
enjoying a reputation founded upon acci- 
dental circumstances, and to which he had 
no substantial claim. He did not think 
that his patriotic services in trying times 
gave him any title to have his weaknesses 
or his foibles ignored. Among these weak- 
nesses, Mr. Savage regarded his vanity and 
his love of popularity, — infirmities to 
which the sturdy independence of his own 
character made him, perhaps, uncharitable. 
John Hancock, in his eyes, was a brilliant 
specimen of dust o 'ergilded. He [Savage] 
retained in his memory many traditionary 
anecdotes which were at variance with the 
received impressions concerning him; and 
he took the more pleasure in recounting 
[ 127 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

them, because he held that strict justice 
required they should be known. Mankind 
is generally disposed to forget the infirm- 
ities and weaknesses of eminent patriots 
who prove true to their country in the 
day of trial, whatever may have been the 
motives upon which they acted. That John 
Hancock's name was first set to the De- 
claration of Independence has given him 
a sure title to immortality. It is, as Mr. 
Webster says, as if * he had written his 
name between Orion and the Pleiades.' " ' 

Turning now to Laco's view, we find 
the following estimate: — 

"Mr. H., [Hancock] by the death of 
his uncle, became possessed of a large 
estate. He was thought to have some of 
the exterior graces necessary to form a 
popular character, and he early discov- 
ered a strong inclination for popular ap- 
plause. These qualities rendered him a 

* Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings, 1878, pp. 
152. 153- 

[ 128 ] 



LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

proper object for the effective -patriots 
of the day to bring forward to favour 
their views. They availed themselves of 
his great desire for popularity, and they 
represented him as a man useful in the 
cause of liberty, to give him importance 
in the eyes of the people — his vanity 
favoured their views — he was captivated 
with the idea of being a publick man — 
a man of the people — and he was lavish 
of his money, and in his attention to the 
people, to gain their affections. To ren- 
der him conspicuous, they assigned him 
a part in their manoeuvres, not important, 
but ostentatious; but having early discov- 
ered his caprice, they did not admit him 
to their private councils. Though they 
considered him as a useful instrument, 
and were desirous of retaining him in 
their service, they had no confidence in 
his attachment to their cause, nor did 
they ever intrust him with any thing that 
could much injure it, b}^ being disclosed. 
[ 129 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

" Upon these principles, and with these 
views, was he introduced into publick 
life, by the leaders of the opposition to 
Britain at that day. But though upon 
publick principles, he was introduced into 
the Legislature, and made to appear as 
a man of importance, he had not in fact 
any more efficiency, than the pen of the 
writer under the signature of Massachu- 
SETTENSis; and it was often with great 
pains they prevented him from going over 
to the other side. So great was his van- 
ity, and so excessive his caprice, that his 
leaders were often at a loss to restrain 
and keep him steady. His character and 
his passions were so well known to Ber- 
7iard and Hutchinson, d:c., that they could 
always attempt his seduction with a pros- 
pect of success; and they would several 
times have gained him to their party, but 
for the vigilant eyes of the two Adamses, 
and Otis, d^c. Nor did he, during the 
period I refer to, ever do a single honour- 
[ 130 ] 



LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

able or important act that I have heard 
of, either by originating or carrying a 
measure, or furnishing money for any 
great and general purposes. Though lav- 
ish of his money, he always confined his 
gratuities to objects of the glaring, cap- 
tivating kind, rather than to those really 
important, and extensively useful. 

" That was Mr. H.'s [Hancock's] polit- 
ical character and conduct, from his first 
introduction into publick life, to his being 
appointed a member of Congress, I verily 
believe; and I would refer those who 
may doubt it, to Mr. S. A. [Samuel Ad- 
ams], and others, who were his political 
creators and supporters, who knew every 
thing that took place at that time, and 
who have spoken freely and openly of 
his demerits. I would also refer them to 
the letters of Hutchinson^ Bernard, and 
others, which have been published, for 
the proof of his wavering repeatedly, as 
to the side he should take; and for their 
[ 131 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

ideas, as to his firmness or integrity. And 
yet, it was during this very period that 
he is said to have deserved so much of 
the publick, and to have conferred such 
obligations as can never be repaid. But I 
now call on his advocates to state the im- 
portant transactions he there performed, 
or to show us how and in what instances 
he wasted his property to serve the pub- 
lick, more than others did, of much less 
estate than he enjoyed."' 

Elsewhere he goes on: — 

" Mr. H. [Hancock] was, as we have 
seen, at the early part of our contest with 
Britain, a young man with a very large 
fortune, and some exterior qualities well 
enough adapted to form a popular charac- 
ter; but with a disposition so very capri- 
cious, susceptible of flattery, and prone to 
vanity, it was very difficult to keep him 
steady and to render him, with all the ad- 
vantages he possessed, beneficial to the 

• Writings of Lac o (Boston, Original Edition, 1789), pp. 4, 5. 
[ 132 ] 



LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

public. These obstacles, however, did not 
discourage the once venerable old patriot, 
and his compeers in politicks, from per- 
severing in their object of making him 
a useful agent in the cause; and they suc- 
ceeded, after much labour and watching, 
so far as to fix him on their side, and to 
give him importance in the eyes of the 
people. But they were much disappointed, 
in the degree of advantage they derived 
from his being eventually with them. They 
could draw no aids from his fortune to re- 
lieve the pressing exigencies of the State; 
nor could they restrain his vanity, to make 
him act with consistency, decision or dig- 
nity: and, we have accordingly seen, that 
from his first entering into publick life, 
to his return from Congress, he always 
required a steady hand and a vigilant eye, 
to prevent him from running into the 
utmost excess of levity, or personal selfish- 
ness. We might reasonably have pre- 
sumed, that the precepts and examples of 
[ 133 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

the patriots who brought him forward and 
supported him in publick life would have 
had some effect upon Mr. H. and that his 
natural levity would have been checked, 
by several years' intercourse with such 
characters. But we find he had so long in- 
dulged his various passions, and had been 
so pampered by a tribe of sycophants, who 
were always around him, that he became 
extremely averse to every thing serious, 
and soon got to be a bitter enemy to those 
who attempted to arrest his attention, even 
for a moment to matters of importance. 
Conscious of his own want of merit, and 
persuaded that every thoughtful, steady 
man must soon grow weary of his being 
in the chair, and wish to displace him, he 
made an implicit obedience to his will, 
and devotedness to his interest the only 
conditions upon which he would appoint 
to office, and he used his prerogative as 
a weapon of defence, to encourage those 
who were enlisted in his service, and to 
[ 134 ] 



LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

annoy or intimidate those, who appeared 
to be startled or grieved at his excesses. 
Hence proceeded that swarm of unworthy- 
officers, in the various branches of the 
Executive department, who disgraced the 
Government, and preyed upon the people, 
until they grew uneasy, and were ripe for 
rebellion. When the natural effects of his 
own foibles became visible, and he saw 
that his downfall was at hand, he endeav- 
oured to save himself, and revive his popu- 
larity by the stale artifice of appearing 
desirous of returning to the state of a pri- 
vate citizen. This failed him, and he was 
deeply provoked and mortified to find 
himself reduced to a situation, in which 
he was deprived of the pageantry of State, 
and the glare of office, which used to veil 
his defects from the eyes of the multitude ; 
and he soon set himself most industriously 
at work, to increase the popular irritation, 
which he had before excited by improper 
appointments. The distressing effects of 
[ 135 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

late insurrections, which we still feel, or 
recollect, ought to rouse our indignation 
against Mr. H. and his adherents, who, 
wantonly, or rather selfishly, involved us 
in that dreadful situation by misrepresenta- 
tions, and solely for the purpose of again 
recovering the chair of Government. That 
this event was produced by their agency, 
cannot be doubted, when we recollect 
their conduct and language at that time 
— that he was supported universally by 
the insurgents at the next election — that 
papers with his name, and that of one of 
his principal agents were used as passports 
through the insurgents' lines, — and that 
even those who were devoted to justice, 
by the law of their country, were assured 
of and enjoyed his protection when again 
clothed with the prerogative of pardon." ' 
It is probable that posterity will not be 
closely affected by an3^thing now said to 
limit the reputation of John Hancock, for 

' Writings of Lac o, pp. 36-38. 
[ 136 ] 



LACO AND HIS LETTERS 

when a man has the good fortune to be 
identified with great events, and has the 
wealth or energy to make himself thus 
useful, it is difficult for those of the next 
generation to go behind these obvious 
facts. If too severe reproof brings re- 
action, this was certainly the case with 
the Laco letters. Loring, in his " Hun- 
dred Boston Orators" (p. no), tells the 
story that a group of the Boston draymen 
who were sturdy partisans of Hancock 
trained a parrot to shout after Higginson, 
as he walked down State Street, " Hurrah 
for Hancock ! Down with Laco ! " My 
last surviving uncle, James P. Higginson, 
told me that he had never heard his father 
mention the subject; but that he himself, 
walking in the street with him, had heard 
the schoolboys say, " There goes Laco ! " 
The fact that he lived in an atmosphere 
thus unfavorable might prove that the 
man thus designated was unpopular, but 
would not necessarily prove him to be 
[ ^37 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

wrong. As a matter of fact — as the next 
chapter will show — his standing among 
his fellow citizens was never higher or 
his variety of functions more marked than 
when he had thus defined his attitude 
toward Hancock. 



X 

THE ISLE OF FRANCE 

" They order, said I, this matter better in France." 
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. i. 



THE ISLE OF FRANCE 

THE following letter, now first 
published, will show admirably 
the wealth of practical informa- 
tion and suggestion which this Boston 
merchant could give to government : — 

STEPHEN HIGGINSON TO JOHN ADAMS 

Boston 17 Jany 1789 
Sir 

You may recollect that the Court of 
France by an edict, about 2 Years since, 
opened a trade to the Americans to Mau- 
ritius and the french Settlements in India, 
upon the same terms as their own Sub- 
jects pursue it. This permission we soon 
improved, & for two Years past, many 
vessels have gone to Port Louis in the 
Isle of France from different parts of the 
Continent with cargos of the various ex- 
ports from the Northern middle & South- 
[ HI ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

em States. We there found a ready, & a 
good market for Beef, Pork, Butter & 
Flour, dried & pickled fish, Wheat, To- 
bacco, Naval Stores, &c. all the vessels 
from this State that have gone there, have 
carried those with some other small Arti- 
cles. Those from the Middle & Southern 
States have carried principally their own 
particular exports. We have taken in re- 
turn from thence Coffee, Pepper, Hides, 
Teas and the manufactures of India; & 
some of those articles have been again 
exported to Europe and the West Indies 
with advantage, as Coffee, Teas, pepper 
Spices & Nankins &c. As the articles we 
have carried to the Isle of France, have 
in a good degree been again exported 
from thence to the various markets in 
India &c, where a ready & extensive sale 
has been found for them ; this trade 
would probably in a short time take off 
great quantities of our american exports, 
and give employ to a great number of our 
[ 142 ] 



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THE ISLE OF FRANCE 

men & Ships. We find by calculation that 
not less than 3000 tons of Shipping went 
to Mauritius the last year from America; 
& this year I think there will be more 
than 4000 tons go there, besides those 
Ships that have been fitted out for China. 
From these facts, I think that a free 
trade to the Mauritius, as was at first 
granted, must be very important to Amer- 
ica, for though the markets in India &c., 
which have reed our exports from thence 
may be open to us, generally, it is not 
easy for us at once to Supply them direct, 
nor till we Shall have more knowledge 
of their navigation & trade — beside which 
the voyages to the Continent would be too 
long & tedious, for our common traders of 
small Capitals to pursue them; those to 
Mauritius are as much so, as the persons 
who have sent there can in general bear. 
To have that or any other branch of trade 
so circumstanced that none but wealthy 
Individuals, or companies can pursue it is 
[ H3 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

not to be desired upon public principles. 
But this trade to the Isle of France we 
are perhaps in danger of losing, or having 
it so restricted, as, in a good degree, to de- 
prive us of the advantages we have been 
led to expect from it. The few french 
Merchants who reside there, have en- 
joyed exclusively the Supply of that mar- 
ket with some of the same articles which 
we carry there; & have generally en- 
grossed to themselves the Crops of Cof- 
fee, as well as the India Exports, which 
have been there Sold, by this means they 
have commanded their own prices both 
for their Supplies to their Planters and 
transient Traders, and for the produce &c 
exported from thence, we have not only 
undersold them in the articles we have 
carried; but by going over to Bourbon 
where the Coffee is raised, and contract- 
ing with the planters, for what we wanted, 
we got it much cheaper than to have 
bought it at Port Louis, & taught the 
[ H4 ] 



THE ISLE OF FRANCE 

planters to make more of their crops than 
they had before done, and deprived the 
Merchants at Port Louis of a profit they 
used to make at the Planters expence. 
These diminutions of the merchants gains, 
resulting from our trade, have made them 
& their connexions at L'Orient very un- 
easy; & they have combined, we are told, 
to Suppress, or at least to restrain Our 
Trade at that market, by joint represen- 
tations to the Court of France. They 
have, indeed, already prevailed on the 
Commandant at Port Louis, to prevent 
our vessels from going to Bourbon to buy 
& take in Coffee; and we now have to 
take it from the Merchants at Port Louis, 
at the advanced price of 2 ^ to 3 Dollars 
per C*. This restriction we might per- 
haps Support but Should we be liable to 
any additional ones of moment, we may 
be obliged to abandon the Trade. 

If the french Government should not 
be misled by false representations, I can- 
[ M5 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

not suppose they will subject us to any 
farther embarrassments; but on the con- 
trary, by considering the Subject in a 
national & Political view, they must be 
disposed to encourage our Trade, to the 
Isle of France in particular, & give us all 
that freedom which they at first intended, 
and we enjoyed. The local situation of 
that Island is peculiarly favourable to 
annoy the British trade to India & China, 
and to protect their own. It may indeed 
be viewed as the Key to both the Chinese 
& Indian Seas from Europe. No Ship can 
pass for either of them without being in 
a great degree Subject to the Cruisers Sta- 
tioned at the Isle of France; & if a free 
trade is permitted to us, they certainly 
will have every Supply, & every advan- 
tage for cruising upon the British from 
thence, that Island will certainly Soon 
become the Place of deposit, for Amer- 
ican, Chinese & Indian exports. We shall 
carry to them, all the various products of 
[ h6 ] 



1 



THE ISLE OF FRANCE 

America, that will answer in those Seas, 
and shall want in return the produce & ex- 
ports of the east — our vessels will lodge 
the former, and take the latter in return. 
The french Ships, or the natives from the 
Continent will bring their exports, & take 
ours away for other markets. Such a Trade 
will not only employ the French Ships 
in carrying our exports to other Markets 
from Mauritius, & in bringing theirs in 
return for us to take away ; but very great 
advantages beside must be derived from 
it. It is impossible but the Settlement 
must, with such advantages, soon become 
very wealthy & important; it will cer- 
tainly be resorted to by other Europeans, 
and all the various nations inhabiting the 
Shores in those Seas. It will in this way 
soon become the general Magazine for 
Naval Stores, & for provisions of every 
kind. In a political view, no event can 
be more desireable. It will enable the 
french to operate against the british in 
[ H7 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

any future rupture with amazing advan- 
tage. They will then have an important 
Port filled, not only with Provisions & mil- 
itary Stores, but with Active enterprizing 
& wealthy inhabitants. 

Should the immediate effect of our 
trade be to Supplant, or even to ruin the 
few Merchants now residing at Port 
Louis, it would be of no moment in a 
national view, since it must inevitably 
establish great numbers in their Stead. 
But even this cannot happen, unless from 
their own folly & imprudence, for though 
they may be deprived, by means of our 
trade, of the profits on the business they 
before pursued; they certainly may avail 
themselves in Common with others, of the 
many new openings for beneficial Com- 
merce, which result from it. 
^ It appears to me that the french Court 
acted with great wisdom and policy when 
they open'd those ports to us; & the same 
principles which induc'd them to do it, 
[ h8 ] 



THE ISLE OF FRANCE 

will retain their weight in favour of the 
measure, while the trade of Europe with 
India, China and the relative Interests of 
France & Britain, in those Seas remain 
as they now are: and if I am not mis- 
taken, as to the views & Intent of the 
french Court, upon this Subject, there can 
be no doubt of Mr Jefferson being able 
to prevent any new restrictions upon our 
vessels, & to obtain for them the same 
liberty which they at first enjoyed. 

With these sentiments, as to the im- 
portance of a free trade to those Seas, I 
thought it could not be improper to State 
to you the foregoing facts & observations. 
Should they have weight in your mind, 
you may perhaps advance the Interest of 
America by making some representation 
to Mr. Jefferson on the Subject. 

With much respect I have the honour 
to be Sir your very humble Servant 

Stephen Higginson.' 

* Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress, series 2, vol. i, no. 62. 



XI 

MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

( 1 790-1 804) 

" The public mind, to judge from this part of the Union, 
has kept pace with the times." — Stephen Higginson, i^go, 
MS. 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

IT appears from Stephen Higginson's 
letters to' General Knox that he took 
a more favorable view of the future 
than that held by most of the Federalists. 
The following letter, dated April 7, 1790, 
deals with this matter far more cheerfully 
than was common among that waning class 
during this period : — 

"The Sentiments you express, as to the 
future prospects of Our Country are very 
natural, when judging by the past, and 
reasoning from analogy, in that view of 
the Subject, there appears too much reason 
to fear yet farther fluctuations, if not 
changes, in the tempers, and dispositions 
of the people toward the Government of 
the Union. But it appears to me, that a 
general alteration in the habits and feelings 
of the people has taken place for the better; 
[ 153 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

and that many new circumstances have 
arisen; tending to increase the force and 
respectability of Government, and to give 
a strong impression of the necessity of its 
being supported. — Habits of industry and 
frugality are taking place of those of luxury 
and dissipation, more generally and with 
more celerity than I expected, it is a 
growing Idea, that the manners contracted 
during the War must be done away; and 
that every Class of Citizens must expect 
only to thrive by the means coiiionly suc- 
cessful in a time of peace. — With such 
Sentiments impressed on the minds of the 
body of the people, and the advantages they 
will derive soon from the System proposed 
by the Secretary of the treasury, and from 
some general commercial Arrangements, 
which may soon be expected, the situation 
of individuals will become more easy and 
eligible, and private happiness be more 
generally enjoyed, from the same causes, 
I expect, the Government will be gradu- 
[ 154 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

ally increas'g in its energy and dignity, and 
will daily extend its protection and 
blessings. — The public mind, to judge 
from this part of the Union, has kept pace 
with the times; and has been prepared, 
with wonderful success and facility, for 
new Events, there seems to be a general 
conviction, that the Union must be sup- 
ported, as the alone Source of national 
Security; and that every burthen neces- 
sary to the Object must be cheerfully 
bourne. " ' 

Toward the close of 1791, Stephen 
Higginson was appointed a member of a 
committee of twenty-one^ whose chairman 
was Charles Jarvis, a leader of the Jeffer- 
son Party and which contained also Judge 
Dawes, Judge Tudor, the young John 
Quincy Adams and others, to consider the 
existing state of the town of Boston and 
report some plan for a more efficient man- 

* American Historical Association Report^ 1896, i, 781. 

* Quincy 's Municipal History of Boston, p. 25, note. 

[ 155 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

agement of its affairs. There had been a 
previous committee, with Samuel Adams 
as chairman, which had vainly striven to 
substitute a city organization for a town 
government, the population being then 
about twenty thousand. This second com- 
mittee reported a somewhat modified plan, 
but also failed in town meeting, and after 
two other similar attempts the measure 
was carried in 1822, when Dr. John Phil- 
lips, father of Wendell Phillips, was chosen 
the first mayor of Boston.' 

When, in 1794, an embargo for sixty 
days was ordered by Congress in the hope 
of inducing Great Britain to cease her de- 
predations through the fear of impoverish- 
ing her colonies, a meeting was called of 
the citizens of Boston to endorse the meas- 
ure. This was done with some unanimity, 
but there was some earnest discussion 
between Sullivan, Jarvis, and Austin, in 
the affirmative, and Jones, Higginson, and 

' Compare Amory's Sullivan, i, 265. 
[ 156 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

Otis, on the other side, who desired to 
state the wish more moderately. Some 
of the more positive opponents of the 
measure claimed it to be urged with a 
view to obstruct the supply of provision 
to the British forces in the West Indies, 
then engaged in hostilities with the French 
republic. The embargo, however, failed of 
its object, the colonies suffering much less 
inconvenience than had been anticipated.' 
The following is quoted from the life 
of James Sullivan by the patient pen of 
the late Thomas C. Amory: "The feder- 
alists, in the spring of 1796, endeavored 
through their journals, to induce Governor 
Adams, upon the ground of his increas- 
ing age [seventy-five] and infirmities to 
decline a reelection. ... At the com- 
mencement of 1797, however, when the 
administration of Washington drew to its 
close. Governor Adams determined to 

* Amory's Sullivan, i, 291 ; American Cyclopedia, article 
*' Embargo." 

[ 157 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

retire; and the public mind in Massachu- 
setts was much exercised in selecting from 
the leading politicians of the State the most 
suitable candidate to fill his place. Judge 
Gushing, Judge Sumner, General Knox, 
General Heath, Moses Gill, and Stephen 
Higginson were among the most promi- 
nent. The canvass finally settled down 
upon Sumner, Sullivan, and Gill." ' 

Young readers of the present day always 
find it hard to recognize the existence, after 
the withdrawal of Washington from the 
presidency, of a dissatisfied minority from 
which personal attacks on Washington 
continued to come. This is well brought 
out in a letter from Stephen Higginson to 
Timothy Pickering on the approach of 
Washington's birthday. 

Boston Feby 22-98. 
... I have been much diverted at a 
discussion here as to the propriety of cele- 

* Amory's Sullivan, ii, 54. 
[ '58 ] 



KNOW all Men by thefe Prefents, 

That JMl/^^ Q^^§^ ^ ^^,7^>^ /^^.^^<..^^J^2:;<: j/^^^-*^-^ 



paid \:,^ J^^rr^^^ ^^a^^<:^^-^-ry /JC.'li^^/e/^A^^^^^^^ /.^^ 

th-Rcccint whereof t;' do hcrc'.yackaowIcM.c. do hereby give, grant, fclj and eonvey unto the 



TH Tt AVrr , V n TO POT D the sfnre-sr-titcd Prcmlfcs to the fiid x^^<^^ ^v/'S^^*-^ ^^ 
'Xjil'ir:.^^^ ^-^^-:-- ^rc and Behoof fl-rever. . 

^,H -rr ?' ^^^^hK^-Lbrr; ; Thu^/ have good Ui.ht to f:U and convey the . 
fanie to the faid o^-^-^^^ A- o/^yV/^^^ ..... ,* 

And that./ win v.-.urant and defend the fanie Premifcs to the ^ f^^^-'^^V r^T^ 
■ !!^ Hcirsand Affionsforever.a^amll the lawlulClanj.sandDemands of all Pcrfons. 

In \ViTNEr.<; wur-.w.oi-,^ the faid;^:rv^;.^ ^c^ f.>a.r^- — </ '^'^y'^V"". 

^^..^ ^ A. ^^^^-'^^ ^-" -/^-'^ 5^^ -^-^-- -^ M^-- ^ ^"^"^ 

J,ave hereunto fet ..^ Hand,„nd SeaUthis «/^ " ^ Day of o/^ 
in the Year of our Lorij 0;u' T/.o;.:^;;i Srcm HundreJ and Nmcy *X-^ 







?i,; o.U-:c Ir.j1rumc£ lo be >C /-« A7 ani Dccd-bcfcre '^^' y . . 

^f 5 J.ft-cc nf,;,, 




MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

brating M"" Washingtons birth day by a 
public Dinner as usual, by some it is op- 
posed as being antirepublican, by others 
because he is now only a public Citisen, 
and others thought it improper and indeli- 
cate, and might hurt the presidents feelings, 
in short it has divided our friends more 
than any such question ever did before. 
my own opinion was that it would be im- 
proper, unless it was intended to keep the 
presidents birth day also, when it comes 
round. But in the present state of things, 
and whilst a french faction shall continue 
in our Country, so formidable and so ready 
to calumniate Mr. W : and Mr. A : with their 
friends and their measurs, it may be use- 
ful to notice them both in this and in every 
other way, which will express strongly the 
respect of the people for their characters 
and their approbation of public measures, 
it may indeed be eligible to keep this cus- 
tom up, though we may hereafter have 
a president less respected and celebrated, 
[ 159 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

and though it may not appear to comport 
with the republican Ideas. — Although Mr. 
W: is out of office, yet he is still the ob- 
ject of Jacobin malice, for the System of 
policy which all good men approve, and 
which Mr. A: has with so much firmness 
and spirit supported, many were unwilling 
to drop at this moment all public expres- 
sions of their love and respect for him. — 
it has been decided upon this view of the 
question to keep up the notice of this 
day, and to be equally attentive to Mr. A. 
when his birth day arrives ; and it will 
be here generally observed in the usual 
Stile.— 

I mention this as an evidence of the 
proness there is among our friends to di- 
vide upon smaller points, and the difficulty 
there is to keep them united for want of 
system and discipline, in this respect the 
Jacobins have greatly the advantage. 

Wishing you as much enjoyment as 
[ i6o ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

your situation and its duties will admit, 

I am respectfully your friend and very 

hum. serv. 

Stephen Higginson.' 

It is pretty plain that a thoroughly trained 
Federalist like Stephen Higginson must 
have kept his business and his politics 
somewhat apart. This is shown, at least, 
by a letter from him to Messrs. LeRoy, 
Bayard, and McEvers, Boston, September 
1 2, 1 799, showing that he supplied the arms 
for the arsenal which the State of Virginia 
had lately voted. John Randolph in the 
United States House of Representatives, 
nearly twenty years after, spoke of this 
armory as having been erected to provide 
the Virginians with arms in order to resist 
Federal encroachments. But this was 
expressly contradicted by Messrs. John G. 
Jackson and James Pleasants of Virginia in 
the same debate, and even the Federalists 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 801, 802. 
[ 161 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

at that day certainly did not deny the right 
of each State to possess its own arsenal. 

Boston Sep. 12, 1799 
Mess LeRoy Bayard 

and McEvERS — 
Sirs 

We have received your letter of 5th 
instant, and note that the arms reed, by the 
Prosper were on board a vessel for Rich- 
mond and that you had paid the freight of 
them from Hamburg $498.33. but we hope 
that you will get information from Rich- 
mond before they go from you, whether 
they will be received, for the reasons as- 
signed in our last, if any objection is made 
to the quality &c we had rather have the 
arms with you than in Richmond, indeed 
there will be less danger of objections 
when they know they are retained to hear 
how the parcel from Baltimore is received 
and approved. 

We have insured the arms here from 
[ 162 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

the port of entry to Richmond in whatever 
vessel they may go, as we are to deliver 
them there free of risk or expense at con- 
tract price. 

Your hum Ser 

Stephen Higginson' 

It would appear from the following letter 
that the supply of arms from Europe proved 
unsatisfactory, not being in accordance 
with the sample, and it was suggested as 
being desirable to offer them to Toussaint 
L'Ouverture as shown in the following 
letter, to Timothy Pickering: — 

Boston Sept. 20" 99 
Dr Sir : 

I received your letter of the 12*'* in- 
stant and have reflected upon the subject; 
and I think that, with the aid of the Herald, 
and the permission of the Secretary of the 

' American Historical Association Report^ 1896, i, 824. 
[ 163 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

navy, I can arrange to furnish Touissaint 
with some arms, lead and flints. — I have 
a consignment of 4000 stands from Europe 
intended for the state of Virginia on Con- 
tract, according to a sample in the hands 
of the Executive, a part of them have been 
delivered at Richmond, 1320 Arms and 
1536 Cartridge Boxes, which do not prove 
so well finished as the sample and are re- 
jected, though confessedly very good and 
from one of the best factories in Prussia, 
the rest are on board the Acteon for new 
York, carried into England for inquiry, 
and may daily be expected at new York 
if not already there. 

Now I propose to take a small Brigt, to 
go out with the Herald as a Store Ship, 
to put on board some Bread &c which will 
be wanted by our Ships on the Hispaniola 
Station — to order round from new York 
the 2680 arms by the Acteon, to put part 
on board the Herald and part in the Brigt, 
taking some of the Herald's Stores in the 
[ 164 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

Brigt to leave room and to have the Brigt 
balasted with Lead which may be done 
without clearing it out; and in case the 
Acteon does not arrive in time to send the 
Arms here in time, the Herald and Brig* 
may call off new York, and receive the 
Arms if they are there or if not go on to 
Hampton Roads where the other parcel 
may be ready to take in — or both parcels 
may be shipped in this way, if the Acteon 
be arrived as the Arms at Richmond will 
be ordered here, and probably those by the 
Acteon too. I can easily arrange so as to 
have one, if not both parcels shipped with- 
out any delay, should those by the Acteon 
not arrive at N. York in time to come here 
before the Herald will be ready, say 20 
days hence. This kind of use of the Herald 
is necessary to cover the shipment as well 
as to convey the Articles safe to port; and 
by this arrangement we can effect the 
shipment without militating with the Laws. 
I must assume the appearance of doing this 
[ 165 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

with the privity of the government and for 
their use; but it will not implicate the 
Executive in any branch or degree, or re- 
quire any direction or Act from any one 
to execute. But I cannot venture to do this 
without an understanding with Mr. Stod- 
dert' it is a use to be made of a public 
Ship, which as an agent I ought not to 
attempt without such an understanding, 
which may be conveyed satisfactorily to 
me through you, if it be thought eligible. 
As yet no other safe and easy mode has 
occurred to me of effecting the Object; 
which is desirable and important in a pub- 
lic view; but for all I at present see, this 
mode may be adopted without involving 
any serious difficulty, it will indeed pass 
off without notice if well executed. But 
to attempt to smuggle the Articles and be 
detected would occasion much noise and 
discussion and it would render the supply 
very precarious without convoy and hasard 

' Secretary of the Navy. 

[ i66 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

much more clamour, than can possibly be 
excited in the proposed mode — in that 
indeed I cannot see how any can arise, 
nor even a suspicion as to the Object till 
after it shall be effected. — ' 

It appears that some correspondence on 
the subject passed between him and Mr. 
Timothy Pickering, as is shown by the 
following letter: — 

Boston Oct. 3" 99. 

D Sir 

I received your several Letters of last 
month, your Opinion as to sending Arms 
&c to Hisp^ in the mode I suggested coin- 
cides with my own. upon reflection many 
objections occurred to render it ineligible, 
though to furnish Touissant with the means 
to suppress Rigaut, appears evidently for 
the interest of our Country. I therefore 
have made no preparatory Arrangements 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 825. 
[ 167 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

for the object, and have given over all 
thoughts of doing anything myself in the 
business. — ' 

He appears to have taken, personally, 
no more steps, though in a later letter he 
suggests to his New York correspondents 
a modified plan which they might, if they 
pleased, carry out. But nothing more 
came of it. 

His tendency to conciliation evidently 
grew, as is so apt to be the case, with 
advancing years and undoubtedly led him 
on dangerous ground upon the occasion of 
the visit of the French diplomatist, Pierre 
Adet, to Boston in 1797. Adet became 
minister to the United States from France 
in 1795, but two years later broke off dip- 
lomatic relations under cover of a note of 
the Directory, declaring that France would 
treat neutrals as they allowed themselves 
to be treated by the English. While this 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 827. 
[ 168 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

matter was pending, he came to Boston 
and a reception was given to him, which 
was so strikingly characteristic of the 
period in its innocent inflation that it is 
worth recording in full. The most ample 
description of it is to be found in the 
"Columbian Centinel." 

The fullest description of the event is 
as follows : — 

A dinner was yesterday given by a 
number of the most respectable citizens, 
to his Excellency Citizen Adet, French 
Minister, near the United States. — At 
which were drank the following 

TOASTS : 

1. The President. 

2. The Republic of France — The en- 
ergy of her councils — The liberality of 
her policy, and the unparalelled splendor 
of her arms. 

[ 169 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

3. The Vice-President and Congress of 
the United States. 

4. The Governor and Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts. 

5. The Minister of France near the 
United States. 

[The Minister here took occasion to 
make the following pathetic address to 
the Company: "The marks of friendship 
with which you overwhelm me, I receive, 
not so much on my own account, as on 
that of the nation I have the honor of 
representing — Whilst I testify at this 
moment the extreme satisfaction I feel in 
finding myself beside those citizens who 
first raised the standard of liberty on this 
Continent,' and who have known so well 
how to defend it — I seize the same in- 
stant to assure you of the affection I bear 
to the Republic of the United States, 
being assured that the Americans will 
exert every effort to cement with the 

' [Being near Gov. Adams and Gen. Lincoln.] 
[ 170 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

people of France an union, formed under 
the auspices of victory, and which the 
blessings of liberty will from day to day 
consolidate.] 

6. The Batavian Republic — May the 
United voice of her citizens soon give 
stability to her government and perpe- 
tuity to her liberties. 

7. Uninterrupted Peace and Friendship 
between the three great Republics. 

8. The Powers friendly to the United 
States. 

9. The Columbsan \sic\ Fair. 

10. Our University and all sources of 
information. 

11. The liberty of the press and the 
sacred right oi \sic\ private opinion. 

12. Commerce — May that of the United 
States be as extensive as inreresting [52V]. 

13. Agriculture — That source of inde- 
pendence and palladium of freedom. 

14. The Arts and Sciences — Those 
luminaries of national glory — May they 

[ 171 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

be constantly adding new splendor to the 
western constellation. 

15. The Temple of Freedom — May 
its Portals be the Poles, its Canopy the 
Heavens and its Votaries Mankind. 

16. The Nations of the Globe — May 
their enlightened policy, unclouded wis- 
dom and unsullied justice, give Peace, 
Liberty and Happiness to all the world. 

VOLUNTEERS 
The American, French, and Batavian 
Republics — May they, by the virtues 
which they practise, and the happiness 
which they exhibit, attach all nations to 
the cause of social Liberty — Liberty — 
May the mirror of Truth be her ^gis, 
and the Hydra of false Politics her Me- 
dusa's head — May the Buckler of Free- 
dom cover the oppressed, and her spear 
be emblazoned in humbling the oppressor 
— Peace to the contending nations of the 
earth — Ma}^ the flames of War serve but 
[ 172 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

to light the calumet of Peace. — All Man- 
kind — May the exalted virtue of Patri- 
otism itself be finally lost in universal 
Philanthropy.' 

"It is curious," says a correspondent 
of this same newspaper, a week later, 
"but not very extraordinary to observe 
an evident chagrin discoverable in the 
disorganizers at the very cordial recep- 
tion which the French Minister every 
where meets with since his arrival in 
Massachusetts. It is a happy circumstance 
that this gentleman's character is such 
a contrast to some others^ that we Ameri- 
cans can testify that cordial regard and 
steady friendship which is universally felt 
in New-England towards the French 
and their cause without running into that 
excess of fermentation which from its 
very nature is short and transient. The 
friendship of the New-Englanders for our 

* Columbian Centinel, Sept. 24, 1796. 
[ 173 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

illustrious allies is like that of our great 
Washington, calm, sober, and lasting, 
and not enthusiastic, flaming, and evanes- 
cent. The Nevj-E^igland character is that 
of blunt sincerity, mixed with that honest 
pride, which disdains to express in words 
or actions, what our hearts do not feel, 
and sober reason confirm. — It must be 
gratif3^ing to our very respectable visitant 
to know that all New-England can shout 
with sincerity vive la Republique Fran- 
caisT ' 

On another page of the same paper is a 
Protest signed " A Federalist " against " the 
evident disrespect paid to the Proclama- 
tion of neutrality issued by our President, 
in the address of the Selectmen to Citizen 
Adet." 

But this gave clear room to the keen 
pen of John Qiiincy Adams, who seldom 
missed an opportunity of making himself 
even with a critic and who writes as fol- 

* Columbian Centinel, Oct. i, 1796. 
[ 174 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

lows : " Pray tell me entre nous, whether 
you were one of the citizens who frater- 
nized with Citizen Adet at Concert Hall? 
Whether Citizen Lincoln and Citizen 
Higginson were not a little in the com- 
punctions for the illegitimate embraces 
they gave and received on that day? 
They seemed to me to be stolen amours 
at the time. We may smile a little sub 
rosh at these runnings astray after stolen 
waters of our good friends, and merito- 
rious characters. But it is a serious 
thing." ' 

To the reader of the present time, this 
may seem mainly important as indicating 
a tone of rhetorical breadth which has 
now quite ceased to be palatable. It was 
much better characterized by Fisher Ames 
as follows: — 

"You will see the toasts at a feast of 
fraternity in Boston for M. Adet; there is 

* President Adams to John Quincy, Feb. 21, 1797, in E. 
Quincy's Life of J. Quincy, p. 54. 

[ 175 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

an incorrectness in them and in the whole 
business; some good men incautiously 
yielded to the project which the antis set 
on foot, but could not execute even de- 
cently, unless their betters in character 
and principle, should concur. A second 
set followed the first, who were entrapped 
because they would not leave them to be 
mortified. This may palliate it to you 
and a few others, but the face of the 
business is bad and foolish at home and 
abroad." ' 

Stephen Higginson was brought in con- 
tact with John Quincy Adams some years 
later in a manner which may or may not 
have healed the wound left by the Adet 
reception, but which does not appear to 
have left more harmonious results. In Mr. 
Adams's Diary, he tells of being called 
upon in the State Senate in February, 
1803, by Harrison Gray Otis, with a project 
of a new bank in Boston. Otis stated that 

' Gibbs's Administrations of Washington and Adams, ii, 384. 
[ 176 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

"about twenty gentlemen had met together 
and projecting to unite all the great and re- 
spectable interests in the town had chosen 
a committee from among themselves to 
offer the subscriptions round to every 
gentleman of respectable character," no 
person except the original proprietors 
being allowed to take over fifty shares. 
Mr. Adams wished for a more general sub- 
scription to which Mr. Otis strongly ob- 
jected. Later Mr. Higginson, Mr. Lyman, 
and Mr. Lloyd also came to him in the 
afternoon on the same matter. Adams, 
having stated his objections, found it, in 
his own words, a "subject of no small dif- 
ficulty how to conduct myself on this 
occasion."' There was a close vote on the 
bill in the State Senate, 14 to 12, and it 
passed in the House, but was reconsidered, 
and appears to have fallen through. We 
can hardly appreciate the position held by 
the few banks in the community without 

* Memoirs of John Quincy Adams, i, 261, 
[ ^11 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

recalling the curious fact that at Harvard 
Commencement exercises during the eight- 
eenth century the four persons regularly 
seated in state upon the platform were the 
Governor of the State, the President of the 
State Senate, the Speaker of the House, 
and " the President of the Bank." ' 

One of the latest of Stephen Higgin- 
son's letters now accessible is to be found 
among the manuscript Pickering papers 
of the Massachusetts Historical Society 
(vol. xxvii, p. 57), relating to a difference 
of opinion between Pickering and John 
Quincy Adams, then senator from Mas- 
sachusetts, on the subject of Louisiana. 
Letters of Dana and Ames on the same 
subject are to be found in the same vol- 
ume. The letter of Stephen Higginson is 
as follows, and furnishes one of the most 
piquant exhibitions of the view of John 
Quincy Adams which seems to have been 
taken by many at that period. 

* Knox's History of Banking {^. Y. 1900), p. 359. 
[ 178 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

Boston, Feby 15" 1804. 
DSiR 

I received your letters of Jan^ 6 to i6th, 
which I have been prevented from answer- 
ing sooner by sickness. — 

I have shewn your Letter to Mess" Ca- 
bot, Ames, T: Parsons, Judge Dana, and 
a number of your friends beside, who 
agree in Opinion, that you have been cor- 
rect in Sentiment and conduct, and that 
your Colleague has acted like himself. I 
inclose you a note from Dana and another 
from Ames, which will give you a just 
view of the Opinions of your friends on 
the subject of your Letter — 

Mr. A: will continue to be, as was ex- 
pected, very erratic in his Opinions and 
movements, like a Kite without a Tail, 
he will be violent and constant in his at- 
tempts to rise ; but like that, he will be 
impelled by every eddy Wind, and will 
pitch on one side and on the other, as the 
popular Currents may happen to strike, 
[ 179 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

without soaring to his intended point, his 
views are ambitious, even to the Chair of 
State ; but his conflicting passions will 
lead him astray, and prevent his rising. 
he looks constantly to the object of his 
wishes ; but his pride and vanity never 
permit him to use steadily the means nec- 
essary to attain the end. his dispositions 
feelings and habits are those of a very 
high toned Aristocrat ; but, in the present 
state of things, he must rise by the demo- 
cratic Ladder, or not make any progress 
in his pursuit. — with such Views and feel- 
ings &c, it is very natural for him at one 
time to court the Virginia democrats, to 
endeavour to concilitate his virtuous breth- 
ren of Louisiana; and at another to seper- 
ate from, and perhaps affront both, to 
shew his independence he will beside be 
often misled by his visionary scheme of 
building up a third and independent party, 
to controul both the federalists and demo- 
crats, both of which he affects to believe 
[ i8o ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

are equally wrong, with this strange mix- 
ture of passion, and visionary schemes, 
unchecked by common sense, and prac- 
tical discretion derived from experience 
and a knowledge of the world, you must 
not expect a steady coincidence of opin- 
ion, and union as to the object and man- 
ner of pursuit, although you may appear 
to agree in your leading principles of Ac- 
tion. — 

Wishing as much health and satisfac- 
tion as your present situation will admit 
of, I am very truly yours &c. 

Stephen Higginson.' 

Another enterprise in which Stephen 
Higginson was involved at this time was 
one of the very first experiments at bank- 
ing in Massachusetts. The early history 
of banking in these enterprises is now ad- 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 839, 840, 
841. 

[ 181 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

mitted by the most patient students to be 
almost impenetrable. It is known that the 
Massachusetts Bank chartered in Boston 
in 1784 was the first local bank in that 
State and the second in the United States, 
the Bank of Philadelphia having been char- 
tered January 7, 1784. There were indeed 
but five banks in the whole nation up to 
1799, and in 1805 there were but sixteen. 
It seems that in 1803, a law requiring 
semi-annual returns of conditions to the 
Governor and Council was enacted. No 
systematic effort to collect statistics on 
banks was imposed until 1832 and no de- 
finite information concerning them seems 
now accessible. 

Secretary Crawford in 1836 admitted 
that at that time many of the amounts 
given in this direction were wholly con- 
jectural. Mr. Gouge, in his short history 
of paper money and banking in the United 
States, says that all efforts to collect the 
accounts of the early banks had proved so 
[ 182 ] 



MUNICIPAL LIFE IN BOSTON 

unsatisfactory that it was " not thought 
worth while to arrange for publication 
the materials that had been procured."' 
After 1799 no bank but that at Nantucket 
could issue notes of less than five dollars, 
this exception being perhaps on account 
of the whale fishery. As a result the State 
was flooded with small bills from other 
States; this again bringing such incon- 
venience in Massachusetts that bank-bills 
for twenty-five cents were used every- 
where and specie almost disappeared. It 
is hardly strange if it is now impossible to 
determine the fate of a bank projected by 
Stephen Higginson and his fellow capi- 
talists. 

It is in a similar way a great source of 
regret that so few of Stephen Higginson's 
letters to Alexander Hamilton appear in 
the collections. It is known that Hamil- 
ton's son came to Boston, when engaged 
in the preparation of his memoir of his 

' See Knox's History of Banking {^. Y. 1900), p. 307. 
[ 183 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

father, and was quite vexed, it is re- 
corded, at finding that his letters to Hig- 
ginson had been burned by the latter, in 
pursuit of a practice which extended also 
to George Cabot, Jonathan Jackson, and 
others; and the few letters of Higginson's 
to Hamilton which are preserved are far 
less valuable and significant, as a whole, 
than those addressed to others. 



XII 

NAVY AGENT 
(1798) 

" Far as the breeze can bear, the billows roam, 
Survey our empire and behold our home ! " 

Byron, The Corsair, I, i. 



NAVY AGENT 

IT is not too much to claim that Ste- 
phen Higginson stood for many years 
at or near the head of those Boston 
inerchants, the weight of whose judg- 
ment was fully recognized by the general 
government, at a time when mercantile 
relations occupied far more of national 
functions than now. Private letters are 
extant affording stronger testimon}^ of this 
influence than is to be found in any mere 
rumor, as, for instance, in this letter from 
John Jay to President Washington: — 

New York, 26 January, 1796. 
Dear Sir, 

The British ratification of the treaty 

not having arrived, and consequently the 

time for appointing the Commissioners 

mentioned in it not being come, I have 

[ 187 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

thus long postponed replying to yours of 
the 2ist of last month. It certainly is im- 
portant that the Commissioners relative 
to the debts, and also the captures, be 
men the best qualified for those places. 
Probably it would be advisable to appoint 
one lawyer and one merchant for each 
of them. The capture cases are to be 
decided in London. From much that I 
have heard, and the little I have observed 
of Mr. Higginson, of Boston, I am in- 
duced to think him, as a merchant, the 
best qualified of any I am acquainted 
with; and the mass of the captures being 
from the Eastern and Middle States, it 
would perhaps be most satisfactory that 
the Commissioners should be from those 
countries. With him I should be inclined 
to join Mr. King, or Mr. Dexter, or per- 
haps Mr. Smith of South Carolina." 

It was only natural that under these 

' Sparks's Correspondence of the American Revolution, iv, 479. 
[ 188 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

circumstances the government should 
look toward Stephen Higginson, after his 
years of nautical life, for active partici- 
pation in creating an American navy. 
How great was the opposition brought 
out by the first efforts in this direction 
will be best indicated by the following 
extract from a speech of William Mac- 
lay, who with Robert Morris represented 
Pennsylvania in the first United States 
Senate: "It is the design of the Court 
party [referring to those who wished the 
new government to conform as much as 
possible to the monarchical ideas of the 
Old World] to have a fleet and an army. 
This is but the entering wedge of a new 
monarchy in America, after all the blood- 
shed and sufTerings of a seven years' war 
to establish a republic. The Indian War 
is forced forward to justify our having a 
standing army, and eleven unfortunate 
men now in slavery in Algiers is the pre- 
text for fitting out a fleet." In another 
[ 189 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

place he says: "This thing of a fleet has 
been working among our members all the 
session. I have heard it break out often. 
It is another menace to our republican 
institutions."' 

The author of " Familiar Letters on Pub- 
lic Characters," William Sullivan, a man 
of great ability and integrity, but a bitter 
Federalist, says of Stephen Higginson, 
"He was navy agent of the United States 
from the first beginning of the navy until 
he was dismissed to accommodate one of 
Mr. JefTerson's partisans." It is fair to say 
at this point that Mr. Sullivan here goes 
quite too far and is unjust, not merely to 
President Jeff erson, but more particularly 
to the newly appointed Secretary of the 
Navy, Benjamin Stoddert. The case was 
a very simple one. The first Secretary of 
the Navy appointed was George Cabot. 
He declined the office, however, under 

* William Ma.cla.y's /ourna/, p. 383. 
' Sullivan's Familiar Letters, p. 381. 

[ 190 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

circumstances stated in the following cor- 
respondence, when the very existence of 
the new-born Navy Department was at 
stake. The position will be best under- 
stood by reading the following letters 
which passed between Pickering and 
Cabot: — 



PICKERING TO CABOT 
Department of State, May 5, 1798. 
Sir, — The President of the United 
States being desirous of availing the pub- 
lic of your services as Secretary of the 
Navy of the United States, I have now the 
honor of enclosing the commission, and of 
expressing the sentiments of respect with 
which I am, sir, your obedient servant, 
Timothy Pickering. 

Then follows a private letter accom- 
panying the official one. It begins as 
follows: — 

[ 191 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

Sir, — I cannot transmit your com- 
mission, without expressing my individual 
wishes that you would accept the office of 
Secretary of the Navy of the United States. 
I know at the same time that you cannot 
accept it without making some sacrifices ; 
but our present situation demands this as 
a duty from every citizen, and especially 
from those who are eminently qualified to 
contribute to the safety and prosperity of 
our country. In this new office, the Pre- 
sident wishes to find not only a person of 
practical knowledge in maritime affairs, 
but a statesman ; and how seldom can 
these two characters be found combined 
in one person? In every character, public 
and private, you know how happy those 
of us whom you are already acquainted 
with would be made by your acceptance 
of the office. The public advantages to be 
derived from your conducting the depart- 
ment you can fully estimate, and your 
friends have anticipated. Although the 
[ 192 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

formation of a navy has been contemplated 
these four years, it is at the present mo- 
ment only that the establishment may be 
considered as commencing, and it is of 
vast importance that the foundation be 
well laid, — that the first institutions and 
regulations be adjusted in the best manner 
to its present most efficient use and future 
prospering. I will suggest but one other 
consideration. If you decline taking the 
office, where will your countr}^ find a sub- 
stitute ? There is not one in Philadelphia, 
and you will readily believe there is no 
one southward of it ; and, if you fix your 
eye on anyone to the eastward, will you 
propose to yourself these questions ; " Can 
he relinquish his private affairs more con- 
veniently than I ? Can he accept the office 
without making greater sacrifices than I 
must make? In a word, is it the duty of 
any citizen more than mine to perform this 
indispensable public service?"' 

* Lodge's Life of Cabot, p. 155. 
[ 193 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

The following is Cabot's answer: — 

CABOT TO PICKERING 

Brookline, May 1 1 , 1 798. 

My dear Sir, — By the same mail 
which brought me your official letter of 
the 5th, I received a private one to which 
I feel anxious to make a satisfactory reply. 
Although it is true that my inclinations, 
habits, duties, and interests all remarkably 
concur in confining me to private life, and 
although in consequence of this I have 
been continually growing less fit for any 
public station where great efficiency is 
required, yet such is my zeal to maintain 
the political institutions of our country, 
and thus preserve the country itself, that 
I should not at this moment hesitate to 
engage in the office to which I am invited, 
if I were not perfectly convinced that the 
service is beyond my strength. 

I have seen with a painful sympathy, 
the tasks which our executive officers are 
[ 194 ] 




GEORGE CABOT 



NAVY AGENT 

called to perform, and have often made 
the reflection that, if they were not capable 
of the most intense and persevering ap- 
plication, the public business must suffer. 
I have seen with pride, however, that the 
affairs of our executive government have 
been conducted with a degree of order, 
intelligence, and steadiness that do great 
honor to the nation; but I must be allowed 
to say that I am incapable of imitating 
those efforts which in others have been 
productive of so much good. This is a 
circumstance so important that, in my 
estimation, it greatly outweighs the advan- 
tage of any practical knowledge which a 
person could be supposed to bring into 
the office. It is undoubtedly requisite that 
the officer at the head of the naval depart- 
ment should possess considerable know- 
ledge of maritime affairs; but this should 
be elementary as well as practical, includ- 
ing the principles of naval architecture 
and naval tactics. He should also possess 
[ 195 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

skill sufficient to arrange systematically 
the means of equipping, manning, and con- 
ducting the naval force with the greatest 
possible despatch and with the least pos- 
sible expense; and, above all, he should 
possess the inestimable secret of rendering 
it invincible by any equal force. Thus a 
knowledge of the human heart will con- 
stitute an essential ingredient in the char- 
acter of this officer, that he may be able 
to convert every incident to the elevation 
of the spirit of American seamen. Suffer 
me to ask how a man who has led a life 
of indolence for twenty years can be ren- 
dered capable of these various exertions? 
In the present case, it is physically impos- 
sible. Notwithstanding the grateful sen- 
sations which are excited by so flattering 
a testimony of the national confidence, yet 
I think I do not deceive myself in saying 
that I had rather not have been thought 
fit for this office, than be justly chargeable 
with refusing at this time any essential 
[ '96 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

service which I ought to perform. Let me 
therefore repeat that, waiving all other 
objections, it is an insuperable one 
that my powers are inadequate to the 
work.' 

Cabot being thus out of the question, 
the active work of the navy during the 
interval between Cabot's refusal and the 
appointment of a permanent secretary lay 
in the hands of one who, far from leading 
a life of indolence for twenty years, had 
led a very busy life, namely, Stephen Hig- 
ginson. The interval lasted from May ii 
to June 22, 1798, the latter being the date 
when the first actual Secretary of the Navy 
entered on his duties, though Stephen 
Higginson wrote on June 9 to Timothy 
Pickering:^ "I am glad to learn that Mr. 
Stoddert has accepted the office of Sec'y 
of the Navy; and I hope he will soon 

' Lodge's Life of Cabot, p. 156. See the fine tribute to 
Cabot by Dr. Channing, in his address entitled " The Union." 
2 American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 808. 

[ 197 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

enter upon his duties, which are import- 
ant indeed." 

I have in my possession copies of a 
hundred or more letters from the Secre- 
tary of the Navy, Mr. Stoddert, to Stephen 
Higginson, these being accompanied, 
strange to say, by only two from the latter, 
who was yet the man in whom the new 
Secretary of the Navy evidently placed his 
entire confidence during his early experi- 
ence. This is clearly shown by the whole 
tone of the new Secretary's earlier letters. 
He writes, for instance, in the very first of 
these (June 22, 1798), from the Navy 
Department the following : " I am but new 
to my office & shall stand in need of all 
the aid I can obtain from enlightened and 
patriotic men like yourself in all parts of 
the Union, to enable me to discharge with 
success its arduous duties." ' In the next 
letter the Secretary writes further (June 
30, 1798): *^The officers, agreeably to the 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ ^98 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

list enclosed in your letter of the 25th 
inst, have been this day presented to the 
President, who has nominated to the Sen- 
ate the commissioned officers, and has 
appointed the others. There is no doubt 
all will be appointed, and as soon as they 
are appointed, commissions shall be for- 
warded." * Nearly a week later (July 5) 
after inquiring for the exact situation of 
the frigate Constitution, he writes : — 

" Presuming that men can be immedi- 
ately had for the Herald, I will in two or 
three days send Capt. Sever's instructions 
for a cruise. Our coast, at least from New 
York to Cape Henry, has been, for some 
time past, clear of French Privateers. 
From Cape Henry to the Southern Ex- 
tremity will be sufficiently guarded for 
the present. Capt. Sever & the cutter, I 
presume, will be equal to the protection 
of the Eastern Coasts and the fisheries, 
and the three frigates, two of which are 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 199 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

out, might do something in the West In- 
dies. I wish I had your full advice and 
opinion on this subject. I shall always 
receive with satisfaction your ideas as to 
the proper employment of our vessels." ' 

Letters like the following show how 
large a portion of the actual work of 
organizing this new navy devolved on the 
business agents, and also shows more fully 
the complete dependence placed for a time 
on Stephen Higginson. 

Navy Department, 
30th June, 1 798. 

Sir: 

The officers [of a certain ship], agree- 
ably to the list enclosed in your letter of 
the 25th inst., have been this da}^ presented 
to the President, who has nominated to the 
Senate the commissioned officers, and has 
appointed the others. There is no doubt 
all will be appointed, and as soon as they 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 200 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

are appointed commissions shall be for- 
warded. 

With respect to the other officers, it is 
not probable their names will be rec'd. in 
time enough to have their commissions 
sent on to Boston before the Herald is 
ready for a cruise. In this case, Capt. 
Sever, with your aid, must fill up the 
different stations with proper characters. 
There can be no question that the appoint- 
ments will be approved of here, and the 
officers can make one cruise, as those of 
Capt. Truxton's have done, without war- 
rants or commissions. A list of the names 
and station of the officers must be for- 
warded to me, with the dates of their 
appointments, that I may have them ap- 
proved of by the President and registered 
in this office. 

The Lieutenant of Marines and Surgeon's 
Mate, being commissioned officers, they 
must be appointed by the Senate, if in 
session. Blank commissions, therefore, 

[ 20I ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

could not be sent on for them, nor is it the 
practice to send them for warrant officers. 

Your idea of making the Pilot the sail- 
ing master is certainly a good one, and 
will be attended to, but proper pilots 
cannot be found in all places for sailing 
masters. In Boston such persons can be 
found. Capt. Decatur has a pilot who is 
the sailing master — his pay is 60 dollars 
per month. It is presumed the person act- 
ing in this capacity with Capt. Sever will 
be content with the same pay. 

I shall, in a few days, send on to Capt. 
Sever his orders for a cruise. It is hoped 
he will be ready. 

Copper for the ships at Portsmouth is 
ordered to be sent immediately. 

Stephen Higginson, Esq., Boston.' 

Navy Department, 
5th July, 1798. 

• ••••••• 

I wish I knew the exact situation of the 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 202 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

Frigate Constitution. You have judged 
right in procuring everything for the ship 
building at Portsmouth which could be 
got with you, instead of depending on 
Philadelphia. This line of conduct will 
be right in all future instances. The 
freight, delay, etc., will always make up 
for more than any difference in price, even 
if the articles could be procured cheaper 
here, which is doubted. The copper has 
been ordered on, and the ballast shall be 
sent in time. Your suggestions as to an 
understanding with the British shall be 
attended to. 

Presuming that men can be immedi- 
ately had for the Herald, I will in two or 
three days send on Capt. Sever's instruc- 
tions for a cruise. Our coast, at least from 
New York to Cape Henry, has been, for 
some time past, clear of French priva- 
teers. From Cape Henry to the Southern 
Extremity will be sufficiently guarded for 
the present. Capt. Sever & the cutter, I 
[ 203 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

presume, will be equal to the protection of 
the Eastern Coasts and the fisheries, and 
the three frigates, two of which are out, 
might do something in the West Indies. I 
wish I had your full advice and opinion 
on this subject. I shall always receive 
with satisfaction your ideas as to the proper 
employment of our vessels. The force we 
shall be able to command in one month 
will be as follows: — 

Frigate U. States 48 guns. 

Constellation 38 " 

Constitution 44 " 

Two ships from Baltimore, 20 guns each. 
Two from this port, now out, the same 

force. 
Two or three cutters. 
The Herald. 

Your letter does not state the sum wanted 
for fitting out the Herald. Expecting to 
hear shortly from you on this subject, I 
have requested the Secretary of the Trea- 
sury to remit you by this day's mail 8000 
[ 204 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

dollars on that account, and a further sum 
of 4000 dollars, to be paid over by you to 
Capt. Sever, for the purpose of recruiting 
the men. If there was a purser appointed he 
would be the proper person to receive and 
distribute it to the recruiting officers, under 
the direction of the Captain. Be so good 
as to have a proper person fixed on for this 
office, and let him act as if he had received 
his appointment, sending his name to me, 
and if more money be necessary, be pleased 
to have it furnished. 
Stephen Higginson, Esq.' 

This illustrates the need of counsel felt 
by the newly appointed head of the Navy 
Department : — 

Navy Department, 
July 12, 1798. 
Sir: I have this day sent on orders to 
Captain Nicholson & Capt. Sever to pro- 
ceed to sea. 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 205 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

The cutter at Newbury is to be under 
my direction when equipped for sea. I en- 
close orders for the Captain, which I pre- 
sume the Secretary of the Treasury has 
ordered him to obey. I can say to you, 
in confidence, that Barry, in the Frigate 
United States, 48 guns, that Decatur, in 
the Delaware, a strong ship of 22 guns, 
have orders to proceed immediately from 
the Capes of Delaware and to fall in with 
Capt. Sever and the cutter at Cape Cod, 
or, not finding them there, to Nantasket 
Roads; from whence the four vessels are 
to proceed, under the command of Barry, 
to the West Indies, to fall in with the 
Islands, 3 or 4 degrees to the windward 
of Barbadoes, and thence keeping to the 
windward of Martinico, Antigua, etc., to 
Porto Rico, from whence, after a short 
cruise, and attempting to get our seamen 
from that Island, where it is said there are 
a great many, they are to return. Captain 
Nicholson meantime is to protect the 
[ 206 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

Eastern Coast — his cruising ground from 
about fifteen leagues East of the east end 
of George's Island to the west of Long 
Island. 

I wish you would give me your candid 
opinion of this arrangement, and add such 
observations as shall direct me better in 
future. It was unfortunate that, in confer- 
ring the appointment of the Secretary of 
the Navy upon me, the President could 
not also confer the knowledge necessary 
for the Secretary of the Navy to possess 
to make him most useful to his country.' 

At this point in the correspondence 
come the two letters from Stephen Hig- 
ginson, himself, preserved out of all this 
correspondence. How the disappearance 
of all these other letters occurred will 
probably never be known. It has aready 
been mentioned that Stephen Higginson 
burnt much of his correspondence, like 

» U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 207 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

many Federalists, after the party went hope- 
lessly out of power. But inasmuch as these 
letters of his own must have been in the 
custody of the Navy Department, it is im- 
possible to tell how they were recalled 
and what became of them. For this rea- 
son both letters are given as follows: 
these being in all probability only the re- 
presentative of a hundred or so which have 
disappeared. 

Boston, July 25, '98. 
Sir: 

Capt. Sever this moment mentions that 
you had intimated to him that you could 
nowhere find the force of the Herald 
stated. This I wonder at, as I had men- 
tioned in more than one letter that she was 
to carry 16 six pounders and six four- 
pounders on quarter decks and forecastle, 
and Capt. Sever has arranged to take 54 
able seamen, 26 ordinary, sergeant, cor- 
poral, two musicians and 14 marines, 
which, with the commissioned and war- 
[ 208 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

rant officers, will make 128 in all. I seize 
the moment of the post going off to state 
this to you & remain 

Respectfully, your hum. sevt. 

Stephen Higginson.' 

Here follows naturally the only other 
letter from Stephen Higginson on this 
point which has come to light at Washing- 
ton, and I give it in full to convey his idea 
of the duties of his position and also his 
fearless and independent judgment of his 
subordinates : — 

Boston, August 23, 1798. 
Benj. Stoddert, Esq. 
Sir: 

I remain without any letters from you 
since my last. Yesterday the Herald and 
Pickering" sailed on their cruise, after 
waiting several days for a wind, with sev- 
eral other vessels. Capt. Sever has left 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 209 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

with me the pay roll, muster roll, watch 
list and quarter bill, and a number of per- 
sons' oaths, &c., which I shall forward to 
you, if they are to be in your ofhce, as 
I suppose. 

I mentioned in my last Capt. Sever not 
having all his marines, and sent you a 
copy of my note to him to remove his 
doubts about going to sea without them, 
which had its effect. Sever will be an 
excellent naval commander ; he is a cool, 
firm, discreet, gentlemanlike man, who 
feels and conducts with dignity & zeal 
proper to his station; he is remarkable 
for discipline and regularity; his principle 
defect, if it may be called one, is a great 
attention to method & order ; and his 
first Lt. is a fine fellow, possessing every 
quality requisite to excel in the naval line. 
You may be assured that ship is well 
appointed, & will not be given away to 
any vessel near her force. 

The Cutter is also well appointed, with 

[ 210 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

good officers & a good crew. Capt. Chap- 
man is not inferior to any man in the Navy; 
many think him to excel, & his officers 
are very good. 

As Capt. Sever appointed & attended 
upon the frigate at Portsmouth till she was 
suspended, he expects again to be called 
to attend upon her, no doubt, & at his re- 
turn from this cruise will be ready to do 
it; & Capt. Chapman will be the man 
most agreeable to the subscribers & the 
committee for building the ship in this 
town, & would himself like to have her. 

I will suggest to you an arrangement 
which I think will be very agreeable to 
the people of influence & discernment here, 
& will be promotive of the public interest. 
If Capts. Sever & Chapman shall be ap- 
pointed to the ships mentioned, they will 
prefer leaving their present commands & 
attending to the building their new ships, 
as they will wish to oversee and direct in 
many matters of interior construction, to 

[ 211 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

conform to their own taste. Mr. Hutch- 
ins, now first Lt. of the Herald^ can 
take the Herald^ which he merits fully, 
and Mr. Hillar first Lt. of the Pickering, 
can be rewarded by the command of her. 
These two men are very efficient & have 
great talents for the Navy. Hutchins is 
an uncommon man and both are capable 
of greater energies than common men, and 
both have great spirit and ambition, tem- 
pered with discretion. This will leave the 
ship building by Col. Hacket, at Ports- 
mouth, for Daniel McNeil, who, I find, 
has his eye upon and wishes to be ap- 
pointed to her. I take the liberty of sug- 
gesting this arrangement as one which 
will meet the desires of the officers, the 
public opinion & the good of the service ; 
and if it does not interfere with any other 
which you may have in view, I think I 
might venture to be responsible for the 
result. The only part that I have any 
doubt is that of McNeils, but as he is 

[ 212 ] 



NAVY AGENT 

to be provided for and has a commission, 
he had better have that ship than one 
here. 

I thought the 20,000 dollars remitted 
last would have been sufficient for all de- 
mands this month, but I find the Herald's 
bills amount to more than I expected, and 
more is called for from Portsmouth, so that 
another 20,000 dollars will be wanted. The 
accounts for the Herald will be all in and 
ready next week to forward to you. Will 
you have all the original bills sent on; 
duplicates have been taken of most & may 
be forwarded if you wish them. 

I am with respect your hum. sevt, 

Stephen Higginson.' 

The following is also interesting as show- 
ing the view then held as to the ultimate 
needs of the Navy, and how candidly the 
new secretary sought counsel of one who 
was technically an agent only : — 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 213 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

Navy Department, 
loth April, 1799. 

Sir: 

It is not positively determined at what 
places the six 74 gun ships are to be built. 
Steps have been taken to get from Georgia 
the frames of live oak, but a very great 
quantity of other timber will be wanted 
and must be obtained very quickly. Moulds 
are preparing and by the time they are 
ready to be sent from hence, I want to fix 
on the places to which they are to be 
sent. 

I am inclined to believe that we must 
ultimately build our public ships at not 
more than three different places — one in 
New Hampshire or Massachusetts, one on 
North River, and one on Chesapeake Bay, 
but I am rather disposed to build the pre- 
sent six ships in as many different places, 
but to make collections of timber, be3'ond 
what will be necessary for the ships, only 
at three places; one on Chesapeake, one 
[ 214 ] 




Copyright, 1896, by A. VV. Elson & Co. 

THE FRIGATE CONSTITUTION 



NAVY AGENT 

on North River, and one to the Eastward. 
Will you be so good as to favor me with 
your opinion on this subject, and also with 
your opinion of the places where two of 
the present six ships ought to set up east 
of New York. One will probably be com- 
menced at New York, one on Delaware. 
But if it should be found impracticable to 
build one on Delaware, for want of suffi- 
cient depth of water, a point at this mo- 
ment doubtful. In that case, three will be 
set up Eastward of New York. 
Stephen Higginson, Esq.* 

Such letters as those of Stoddert could 
easily be multiplied, but a hundred of 
them would only establish more thoroughly 
the fact that he, the first actual Secretary 
of the Navy, was a trustworthy and la- 
borious man; and also the other fact that 
Stephen Higginson was both the coadjutor 
and the guiding adviser in all this work, 

' U. S. Navy Department MSS. 
[ 215 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

in which consisted the actual creation of 
the American Navy, and of which the 
frigate Constitution now remains the sole 
memorial. 



XIII 

THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

(1802-3-4) 

" There take (says Justice), take ye each a shell 1 " — Pope, 
from Boileau (Epitre ii). 



THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

THERE are few things which throw 
a light more curious and unex- 
pected on the habits of our New 
England ancestors than the annual cele- 
bration, under the above name, both in Ply- 
mouth and in Boston, of that which was 
also called, more reverentially, Forefathers 
Day. It was apparently in the year 1769 
that the Old Colony Club began to cele- 
brate this event by a public dinner, at 
which they made a great point of serving 
shell-fish, succotash, and the like. The 
following description of one of these early 
feasts in Plymouth is taken from the ac- 
count of the celebration as given in the 
" Boston Gazette," January 22, 1770: — 

"At eleven of the clock, a. m., the 
members of the club met met [^^V] at the 
hall, and from thence proceeded to the 
[ 219 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

house of Mr. Rowland, which is erected 
upon the spot where the first licenced 
house in the Old Colony formerly stood: 
At half after Two, a decent repast was 
served up, consisting of a large baked 
Whortle-berry Pudding, Sauqetash, Cod- 
fish, Clams, Oysters, a Haunch of Vennison, 
(roasted by the first jack brought to the 
Colony,) Sea-Fowl, Frost: Fish and Eels, 
dress'd in the plainest manner; all appear- 
ance of luxury and extravagance being 
avoided, in imitation of their worthy an- 
cestors, at four o'clock p. m. the members 
of the Club headed by the steward, carry- 
ing a folio volume of the laws of the old 
Colony, hand in hand walk'd in procession 
to the Hall : Upon the appearance of the 
members in the front of the Hall a num- 
ber of the descendants from the first set- 
tlers of the old Colony, drew up in a regu- 
lar file and discharged a volley of small 
arms, succeeded by three cheers, which 
were returned by the Club; after this at 

[ 220 ] 



THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

the private Grammar School opposite the 
hall, a number of young gentlemen [as- 
sembled] to express their joy upon the 
occasion, and their respect for the memory 
of their ancestors, in the most agreeable 
manner join'd in singing a song very suit- 
able for the day. At sun sett a Cannon 
wos [5/c] fired and the Flag struck j in the 
evening the Hall was illuminated and a 
number of the principal Gentlemen of the 
Town being previously invited joined the 
Club and the President (being seated in 
a large and venerable Chair formerly pos- 
sessed by William Bradford the sec- 
ond worthy Governor of the Old Colony 
and presented to the Club by Dr. LeBarron 
of that Town) delivered the following 
toasts, and a number of others, which were 
drank by the Company. 

" After spending the Evening in an 
agreeable manner in recapitulating, and 
conversing upon the many and various 
[ 221 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

adventures of their forefathers in the first 
settlement of this Country, and the growth 
and increase of the same, at Eleven o'Clock 
in the Evening a Cannon was again fired, 
three cheers given, and the Company 
withdrew." 

These Plymouth celebrations continued 
apparently up to the year 1 78 1 . During the 
first ten years of this period there were also 
religious exercises, though none earlier. 
From 1 78 1 to 1792, there was apparently 
no celebration at Plymouth, since which 
such exercises have always been held. 
In Boston, they were imitated, for the first 
time, in 1797 or 1798 and were thence fol- 
lowed for many years. In 1801, 1802, and 
1803 Stephen Higginson presided at the 
Boston festivals, his vice-presidents being 
on the first occasion Joseph Russell, Peleg 
Coffin, and Martin Brimmer. It appears 
from the "Columbian Centinel," Decem- 
ber25, 1802, that the hall was appropriately 
ornamented with the portraits of Win- 
[ 222 ] 



THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

throp, Endicott, Leverett, Higginson, 
Bradstreet, and Wilson, together with an 
historical painting " the Landing of the 
Fathers " from the pencil of Mr. Sargent 
and many curiosities connected with the 
manners and persons of the time. It ap- 
pears that there were seventeen regular 
toasts and fourteen volunteer ones, one 
being to the President of the Day [Stephen 
Higginson] after he had retired from the 
chair, " May the Jacobins find many Fed- 
eralists whom they dread as much and 
who will dread them as little." 

From the fact that many toasts followed 
this, we may assume that in colonial feasts, 
as in modern ones, the entertainment grew 
somewhat more convivial in later hours, 
and a younger chairman succeeded. It 
was, however, at the very end of the feast, 
it would seem, that Judge Paine volun- 
teered this rousing sentiment, " Great Brit- 
ain, May that Nation which stood the 
Friend of Liberty when Liberty had no 
[ 223 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

other Friend among the Nations be refined 
and conformed and remain thcjachin"^ while 
the United States of America stands the 
Boaz of true Political and Social Liberty, 
until Sun and Moon shall set no more." 

A festive occasion is imperfectly seen, 
however, so long as we view it only 
through the eyes of its supporters. Let us 
now turn to the Feast of Shells as de- 
scribed by the Democratic press of Bos- 
ton. 

Thus in 1S02 the "Independent Chron- 
icle "for December 30 expresses indignation 
at the speeches made at the " Feast of 
Shells " entertainment, and still more that 
one of them should have been introduced 
by the tune which was then, doubtless, 
in fashion, " Go to the devil and shake 
yourself." The editor follows it up with 
these words, " This is a pretty ditty for 
the Sons of our pious Forefathers — what 
an appearance must Gen. Lincoln and 

* 2 Chronicles, iii, 1 7. 
[ 224 ] 






THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

Judge Paine make in company with Ste- 
phen Higginson, Fisher Ames, Timothy 
Pickering, Dr. Parker, the Rev. Mr. John 
Gardiner, etc. etc. while attentively lis- 
tening to the music of * Go to the devil 
and shake yourself.' This is piety with a 
vengeance." 

On the recurrence of these alleged orgies 
in 1803, the "Independent Chronicle" is 
yet more wrathful (December 26, 1803), 
under the following head : — 

FEAST OF SHELLS — OR, BOSTON 
SEDITION 

IT has become fashionable of late, for 
a few of the rich and well-born gentry to 
celebrate what they call " the anniversary 
of the landing of Our Forefathers, 
at Cape Cod or Ply^nouthP Who are 
they that gather themselves together on 
this new-fangled, glorious day, to eat & 
drink in honor of their ancestors^ and 
call it a Feast of Shells ? and what the 
[ 225 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

peculiar shining virtues of the celebrators 
and celebrated ? 

How striking a similarity is there be- 
tween the feast at Vila's, and the scanty 
meal of clams, and fish, and brook water, 
with which the poor houseless, expatri- 
ated, discontented wanderers, were obliged 
to satisfy their unpampered appetites! 
The virtues of those adventurers, who 
first landed in this part of the American 
empire, ought to be praised (if by their 
descendants they are praised at all) with 
great modesty. It is enough to say of 
them that, in their native country, they 
possessed, or thought they possessed, mer- 
its for which they were not sufficiently 
respected or rewarded — the genius of 
their then country was intolerant; and 
they flew from persecution, in order to 
spread the seed of persecution in an unin- 
habited wilderness. 

Is this 22d of December, in the man- 
ner it is managed, a valuable institution ? 
[ 226 ] 



THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

Will the nobility and gentry about St. 
James's, observe it with admiration, or 
derision ? Is it a respectable anniversary ? 
look at the toasts, and they will answer. 
Have the celebrators, one spark of the 
modest simplicity, the unassuming piety, 
the disinterested devotion to God and the 
Commonweal, which warmed the breasts 
of our ancestors ? Are the celebrators 
poor, disinterested and pious ? Do they 
share all things in common ? Are they 
exclusively (and who of them) the de- 
scendants of our ancestors ? Are not 
most of the celebrators bloated and over- 
abounding with such sort of piety as 
filled the breast of Archbishop Laud ? 
Have not many of them been perse- 
cutors ? Have they not had their share 
of power and good fat offices ? 

In the third year (on December 27, 
1804) the "Independent Chronicle" re- 
curs once more to the subject of " The 
[ 227 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

parade that is made previously to this 
mock sensation" (i. e. of the Pilgrim din- 
ner), and describes an imaginary man 
falling asleep, who fancies himself to be 
watching a celebration where " a great 
number of well-fed, well-dressed Pil- 
grims, who had never endured penance 
beyond a drunken headache, were walk- 
ing about with some impatience, looking 
at their gold watches and demanding the 
dinner forthwith." The writer then goes 
on to describe an imaginary picture in 
which occurs the only reference to the 
presiding officer, thus: "I observed that 
the company attempted to eat their soup 
at first with cockle-shells a la Pele- 
rin, but his honor the moderator having 
spilled some fat broth on a new pair of 
black satin breeches, he called for spoons 
and the antique fashion was abandoned." 
A correspondent adds the expression of in- 
dignant regret that " sacred priests should 
mingle in the laugh of revenge, the toast 
[ 228 ] 



THE FEASTS OF SHELLS 

of slander and the song of personal con- 
tempt on a Saturday evening and bend 
with confidence over the board of devo- 
tion on the day following." 

No allusions to these festive occasions 
are apparently to be found in Stephen 
Higginson's correspondence. I find in 
"An Appeal to the Public," by Jedediah 
Morse, D.D. (Charlestown, 1814), he 
states in regard to his " History of New 
England," " The proposal of making it a 
school book, to aid the design of the 
feast of shells^ was by me mentioned to 
a number of the principal promoters of 
that festival, among others to Mr. S. H. 
Jun. [Higginson] and was by them ap- 
proved." ' 

' Morse's Appeal to the Public, p. 67. It was through this 
reference that I first heard of the Feast itself. 



XIV 

A GREEN OLD AGE 

"A green old age unconscious of decay." — Pope's Homer's 
Iliad, XXIII, 989. 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

STEPHEN HiGGiNSON was made a jus- 
tice of the peace in Massachusetts in 
1782 and of the Quorum in 1788. He 
was at one time displaced by Governor 
Hancock and then reappointed by Gover- 
nor Bowdoin, the Laco Letters having very 
probably had something to do with these 
changes. In 1784, February 7, a bank was 
established in Massachusetts of which Gov- I 
ernor Bowdoin was president and George 
Cabot, Jonathan Mason, John Lowell, Ste- 
phen Higginson and others were directors. 
The latter sustained some loss of property 
in 1 78 1, and at that time became separated 
in partnership from Jonathan Jackson, who 
removed to Newburyport, but Higginson 
continued until about 181 2 a successful 
merchant. His only brother Henry died 
unmarried about that time, leaving him a 
[ 233 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

property of five or six thousand dollars. 
At his most prosperous time Stephen Hig- 
ginson is described as having been worth 
about half a million dollars, but when he 
left business he had only about a hundred 
and thirty thousand. The standard of 
wealth, we must remember, was incom- 
parably lower in those days than at the 
present time. There lies before me the 
list of subscribers for the first Catholic 
church in Boston, that established by 
Father Cheverus in 1803, in which the list 
is headed by John Adams, the Perkins 
brothers, Stephen Higginson, and Stephen 
Higginson, Jr., each of these contributing 
one hundred dollars, followed by five 
other subscribers to the same amount, all 
other subscriptions reaching only lower 
sums. Several visits to England had made 
him more cautious in commercial matters 
than was my father, who kept up his risky 
enterprises until he failed altogether and 
had to retire from business. My grand- 
[ 234 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

father was still classed among the rich 
men of Boston and built what was then 
a large country seat in Brookline, upon 
ground now occupied by his kinsmen of 
the Lowell family ; and his life there was 
too picturesque and old-fashioned not to 
be given in a separate chapter, as por- 
trayed by my cousin the late William 
Henry Channing. 

The following letter is from Stephen 
Higginson, who had declined reelection 
to Congress, to Arthur Lee, who was still 
there, in reference to the retirement of 
Alexander Hamilton, " the General," from 
that branch of the public service. It will 
be remembered that one of Hamilton's 
favorite measures had been to obtain con- 
sent to the grant of five per cent impost 
on imports. This was defeated, largely 
through the opposition of Rhode Island ; 
and Lodge, in his biography of Hamilton 
(p. 40), says; "Defeated at this point, 
Congress fell back on its old policy of 
[ 235 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

recommending a grant for a term of years; 
and against this Hamilton and Higgin- 
son voted with the Rhode Islanders, who 
opposed all forms of taxation or debt- 
paying." It would seem from this let- 
ter, however, that Stephen Higginson 
was by no means an ally of Hamilton 
in what the latter called " continental pol- 
itics " : — 

Boston, Jan'y 27, 1784. 
D^ Sir, — Yours from Annapolis I rec^ 
— the Account you give of the General's 
[Hamilton's] resignation agrees well with 
what the Papers relate — it was no doubt 
affecting to you who were present & the 
manner in which he did it may serve to 
increase his popularity, for the great mass 
of the People are governed wholly by ap- 
pearances, but he would in my Opinion 
have rendered his Character much more 
perfect had he have given us in his Vale- 
dictory strong evidence that he still re- 
[ 236 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

tained his republican Ideas & principles, 
that he yet should be anxiously careful to 
preserve unimpaired the Constitut. and 
could never be induced by foreign or do- 
mestic Influence to aid those measures 
that have the most remote tendency to 
subvert that Government which he once 
affected to revere & for the support of 
which he has repeatedly declared he was 
ready to hazard his All — I confess that it 
is to me mysterious how a man who has 
any knowledge of Our national affairs & is 
in any degree acquainted with the Charac- 
ters of those in the great Departments & 
of Congress, can be highly in favour of the 

5 pr. ct. Impost and for increasing the 
Powers of Congress, & at the same time 
heartily attached to Our present Constitu- 
tion — Can any man take a View of the 
Doings of Congress for the last three years 

6 believe that an increase of their Power 
would conduce to the public Happiness or 
tend to preserve our present form of Gov- 

[ 237 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

ernment ? Does not the present Congress 
in a great degree consist of the same men 
whose pubHc Conduct will surely be ever 
memorable, does not the same Junto, the 
same Influence still guide the measures of 
Congress that laid the most important In- 
terests, nay the very Independence, of this 
Country at the feet of the french ministryr 
& while this is the Case must not an in- 
crease of their power in the same degree 
increase the danger of Our being yet 
brought into Bondage r surely it must — 
Who will believe that an Impost which 
from its very nature will give room for 
ambitious & designing ministers to mis- 
apply it, nay to employ it to seduce even 
Congress itself or some of its members, 
when he knows that specific Taxes granted 
in such manner & under such Checks as 
rendered it easy to discover the least mis- 
applications, when he knows that the mon- 
ies collected on such Taxes have been in 
violation of every principle of policy & 
[ 238 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

Justice by the very men now in Office ap- 
plied to such purposes'" — for my own 
part I can not believe that those who will 
hazard a misappropriation when detection 
is highly probable if not certain will hesi- 
tate doing it when they have the means in 
their own hands of hiding it from the pub- 
lic Eye, & surely those who have the dis- 
posal of an unknown sum may be said to 
have such means — 

But I can not suspect the Generals Love 
of Liberty and attachment to his Country, 
I rather suppose that he has had not all 
that information which is necessary to 
form a right Judgment — his situation 
seemed favorable for acquiring a thorough 
knowledge of Our political Affairs, but I 
believe that the Junto, who always had 
their setters around him, took great pains 
to keep him ignorant of their measures 
and wholly in the dark as to their Views 
— sensible of his Virtues they concealed 
from him their Intentions, lest his influ- 
[ 239 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

ence, which has always been great, should 
be opposed to them. 

Mr. F — r may talk of resigning but de- 
pend upon it he will not do it till he appre- 
hends danger of being displaced or is 
thoroughly satisfied that he can no longer 
govern — I wish he would resign, it will 
not be an easy matter for him again to 
assume the Reins, there is a very wide 
difTerence between retaining an Office in 
possession and obtaining one that is vacant 
— a consciousness of that difference has 
emboldened many of the public Servants 
to follow their own inclination, and to treat 
even Congress with Contempt — secure of 
a Junto in Congress they were sure of 
their places, and having a few venial Ones 
at their Command, they have bid defiance 
to the Body — it is high time that your Ser- 
vants were annually elected, from the high- 
est to the lowest they have become insolent, 
let this reformation take place & I will an- 
swer for their behaving better in future — 
[ 240 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

Why will not your state Rhode Island, 
Jersey & No. Carolina give their Dele- 
gates similar Instructions to Congr if 
three or four States would agree & urge a 
reformation in the same points they would 
not fail of success — Copies of Our memo- 
rial &c should be sent to those states — 

What think you of the Cincinnati, what 
says Congress to it, how does your state 
relish itr is it an Exotic and a part of the 
great System or notr a serious opposition 
is forming to it here & such as will soon 
check if not destroy the influence of the 
Institution in this State. . . . 

The following letter, found among Ste- 
phen Higginson's papers, shows how he 
and his partner were tormented, thus early, 
by the question of slavery : — 

New York Novr. 4th 1787- 
Gentlemen, — On or about the 8th of 
September last my Negro Wench named 
Beth left me and stole and carried off with 
[ 241 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

her a Part of my Property — My Neigh- 
bor Mr. Daniel Ludlow who lately re- 
turned from Boston informs Me She is 
now in your City and has hired herself 
out (with her Husband a servant of Mr. 
Charles McEvers) to a Person in Han- 
over Street, near to a Mr. Coffin Jones 
upon my Application to Govr. Clinton he 
has favoured Me with a Letter to his Ex- 
cellency Govr. Hancock requesting that 
She may be apprehended agreeable to the 
Articles of Confederation and sent back 
that She may be made amenable to the 
Laws of this State for her felonious Con- 
duct. This Letter I have taken the Lib- 
erty by the Recommendation of my Friend 
Mr. Ludlow to send under Cover to You, 
and have to request that You would be so 
good as to deliver it to Govr. Hancock as 
soon as it comes to Hand, who I make no 
doubt will give every Aid in his Power to 
apprehend her — to assist in finding the 
Wench it is necessary to give you the fol- 
[ 242 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

lowing Description — She is remarkably 
short about 28 Years of Age a Yellowish 
Complexion her Front Teeth are bad She 
wears her Hair turned back over a Roll 
and was pregnant when She left Me — 
her Husband who is now with her is 
about 25 Years old slender made about 
5 feet or 6 inches high black Complexion 
dresses his Hair back and one or two of 
his Fingers of one of his Hands is maimed 
and in some Measure useless — As She is 
an artful Wench to prevent her escaping 
I beg when She is apprehended that She 
may be confined until Capt. Barnard who 
commands the Schooner Boston Packet 
and who will leave this on Wednesday is 
ready to sail for New York and who has 
promised to take Charge of her — You 
will be pleased to Deliver her to him just 
before he sails, with her Cloaths and such 
Things as may be found with her, and 
whatever Expence and Trouble may at- 
tend this Business, I will chearfully pay to 
[ 243 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

your Order, and your Friendship in this 
will much oblige 

Gentlemen Your most obt. and very 
humble Servt. 

Tho. Smith. 
Messrs. Jackson and Higginson, Boston. 

I should personally take an extreme in- 
terest in knowing precisely what reply was 
made by the house of Jackson & Higgin- 
son to this confiding request; but those 
who recall the opinion of John Hancock, 
expressed by " Laco," may well doubt 
whether a cooperation between them in 
slave-hunting would have been altogether 
harmonious. 

The following passage from a letter 
throws a curious light upon the land spec- 
ulations of early days: — 

Our Court have granted you 3000 Acres 
of Land in Our eastern Country & ap- 
pointed a Committee to lay it out in York 
Cumberland or Lincoln Counties the two 
[ 244 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

first Committees that were appointed made 
no return & perhaps owing to the Influ- 
ence you suspect of being against you, but 
the last Session a new Committee was ap- 
pointed who will do the Business, they are 
good men & mean I am told to lay it out 
in the County of York where there is a 
plenty of good Land — Our Judge Sewall 
is Chairman of the Committee — I expect 
next week to see two of the Gentlemen 
when I shall not fail to urge them to per- 
fect the Business & to your advantage — 
I should have wrote you before on this 
matter but I have not till within a few 
days been able to find the real state of it. 
I am interested in a lot of Land in north 
Carolina, my share is 10,000 Acres, the 
quality of it is said to be very good & the 
value of it great, from two to three Dol- 
lars ^ Acre — I have heard much of its 
value &c but I know nothing about it but 
from the Accounts of others — it is so very 
distant from hence that I never expect to 
[ 245 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

have such knowledge of it as is necessary 
to make any advantage of it either in the 
way of sale or improvement, but you by 
living in the neighborhood may perhaps 
find your account in exchanging what may 
be set off to you here for it, as the same 
difficulty will attend your holding wild 
Lands here — I would therefore propose 
to you an inquiry into the Value of my 
Lands in No. Carolina, in order that if 
We think it convenient We may thus ex- 
change upon fair and equitable terms — 
Mr. Hawkins I suppose can give you full 
information about it, I could not describe 
it to him with precision from memory 
when I was in Congress, but he appeared 
to be well acquainted with that Country 
where it lays — my share is one eighth 
part of a Tract containing Eighty thou- 
sand Acres which is part of a Tract of 
Land qt 100,000 Acres granted by the 
King to Governor Dobbs by eight patents 
of 12,500 Acres each, it is known by the 
[ 246 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

name of the great 1'ract & is situated on 
Rocky or Johnson River & the Branches 
thereof in Mecklenburg County, & is said 
to be of excellent quality & within seven 
miles of the Court house. 

We purchased it of Mr. Alexander Rose 
of So. Carolina & have from him the orig- 
inal Patents with his own Deeds & the 
intermediate Ones, so that the Title is very 
clear and good — Mr. Rose has declared 
to us that he could have had for it since 
or before two hard Dollars ^ Acre, & a 
Gentleman who came through the Coun- 
try told us he knew the Land perfectly, 
that it was well situated & very good, & 
he was very urgent with us to be admitted 
to a share in the purchase, promising that 
he would go & see it settled &c. We had 
made Our Company & declined — Our 
Company are Jona. Jackson, John Lowell, 
Nath Tracy, Leo. Jarvis, T: Russell, Mar- 
tin Brimmer, Jn° & Andrew Cabot and my- 
self — I have since heard that the Land is 
[ 247 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

not so good as We had heard but it was 
from a Person who lived in that Country 
and wanted to purchase — Now I wish you 
to satisfy yourself as to the quality & value 
of it, which you may easily do with this 
description of it taking care to distinguish 
between those who wish to purchase it 
& those from whom you can get a dis- 
interested Account of it — Mr. Hawkins 
I should suppose can put you in a way to 
get the information wanted — as it is much 
out of Our reach I believe some of the 
others would sell on good terms — The 
sire of your mare from the best information 
I can get was a horse imported by the late 
Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire 
called the little Driver 3. very famous 
horse in this Country — present my re- 
spects to all Friends. 

I am yours affye 

[Stephen Higginson.] 

Honble Arthur Lee, Esqre 
Member of Congress Annapolis 
[ 248 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

It is a curious fact that the signature of 
this letter is omitted ; but it is in the hand- 
writing of Mr. Higginson, and endorsed 
by Mr. Lee as having been received from 
him. The omission was doubtless acci- 
dental, although had it occurred later, after 
the Federalists had become objects of sus- 
picion and possible indictment, a different 
interpretation might have been put upon 
it. 

The gift of land by the State of Massa- 
chusetts to Arthur Lee was made, it will 
be remembered, in acknowledgment of his 
services to the colony as its agent in Eng- 
land in connection with Benjamin Frank- 
lin. The amount appropriated to him has 
been usually stated at four thousand acres, 
but is here fixed at three thousand. The 
reference to Southern lands is very inter- 
esting, as showing that the Boston mer- 
chants were already extending their in- 
terests very widely. I have been able to 
ascertain nothing further about " the great 
[ 249 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

tract," except that my kinsman, Colonel 
Henry Lee, once told me that he used to 
hear these lands mentioned in his youth; 
and that it was a tradition in the family 
that Jonathan Jackson, being urged to go 
and visit them, replied that he would do 
it if the other owners would send him in 
a coach-and-six. It is hardly worth while 
to follow up further any feature of that 
period which even Colonel Lee's memory 
cannot recall ; but if I am among the legal 
heirs to a few hundred acres of North Car- 
olina land " of excellent quality," I should 
certainly be very glad to know it. As to 
the close of this letter, there is something 
very amusing, and perhaps rather health- 
ful and creditable, in the manner in which 
the writer's discourse, beginning with 
Alexander Hamilton and the five per cent 
impost, ends with horseflesh and the Little 
Driver. 

The following letter is addressed to 
the Rev. John Pierce, then Stephen Hig- 
[ 250 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

ginson's pastor in the Brookline (Mass.) 
Congregational parish, and in later life a 
familiar object at the Commencement din- 
ners at Harvard College, where he always 
led the singing. It will doubtless be re- 
garded by his successors in the ministry 
as affording an admirable example for 
parishioners. The original letter is en- 
dorsed in the usual methodical manner of 
Dr. Pierce, " Stephen Higginson, Senior, 
Feb. 13, 1805 $100." 

Boston, Feby 13, 1805. 

D. Sir, — With concern we have heard 
of your illness; but with pleasure we this 
day learn by Mr. Heath that you are 
mending. 

I inclose you 100 dollars in Bills, which 
[I] beg you to accept, persuaded that 
Gentlemen in your profession are not suf- 
ficiently compensated for their labours, 
nor furnished by their Hearers with com- 
petent means of support, especially in 
[ 251 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

cases of sickness and extra expense, I 
consider it a duty for me to contribute 
in this way. 

I have only to request that you will 
not mention, nor feel yourself obligated 
by this mark of esteem and friendship — 
with my own and Mrs. Hs. respects for 
Mrs. P I remain Sir yours truly — 

S: HiGGINSON. 

Stephen Higginson's first wife died in 
1788, and he married for his second 
wife, on May 15, 1789, Elizabeth Per- 
kins, daughter of an English merchant 
residing in Boston, and of no known kin- 
ship to the well-known Boston family of 
that name. She had one child only, — 
James Perkins, born July, 1791, — who 
was the last of his generation, and to 
whom I am indebted for some later 
glimpses of my grandfather. This wife 
dying, he married, in September, 1792, 
as a third wife, her sister, the marriage 
[ 252 ] 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

having this quaint announcement from 
the town clerk: — 

Boston^ ss. 

A purpose of Marriage between 

Hon^'" Stephen Higginson Esq & M'^' 

Sarah Perkins, of Boston 



Has stood entered with me for the Space 
of Fifteen Days, and due Publication 
of such their Intention or Purpose has 
been made by asking their Banns at three 
several public Meetings within the said 
Town, as the Law directs. 
Certified under my Hand the 24 Day of 
September — Anno Domini, 1792 
William Cooper Tovjn Clerk. 

In George Ticknor's interesting life of 
his own boyhood and early training, edited 
by Hillard, Ticknor says of himself, "At 
this period I very much frequented the 
families of Mr. Stephen Higginson, Mr. 
[ 253 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

S. G. Perkins, Mr. Richard Sullivan, 
Mr. William Sullivan, Dr. John C. War- 
ren, Senior, and Mr. William Prescott."' 
During the War of 1812, while the Hart- 
ford Convention was going on, Ticknor 
had occasion to call on President John 
Adams, and gives this description of his 
return from the visit: — 

I felt so uncomfortably, that I made 
my acknowledgments for his kindness in 
giving me the letters, and escaped as soon 
as I could. 

A few days afterward (22d Dec, 1814) 
I set out on my journey, having the advan- 
tage of Mr. Samuel G. Perkins's company 
as far as Washington. He was one of the 
prominent merchants in Boston — a man 
of no small intellectual culture, and of a 
very generous and noble nature. He had 
been a great deal about the world, and 
understood its ways. His manners were 

' Hillard's Life of Ticknor, i, 1 2. 
[ 254 ] 



t 



A GREEN OLD AGE 

frank, open-hearted, and decisive, and, to 
some persons, brusque. All men respected, 
many loved him. 

Mrs. Perkins was the daughter of Mr. 
Stephen Higginson, Senior, — an import- 
ant person at one time in the political 
affairs of the town of Boston, and the head 
of the commercial house of which Mr. 
Perkins was a member. Mrs. Perkins was 
at one time very beautiful. Talleyrand, 
when I was in Paris in 1818, spoke to me 
of her as the most beautiful young person 
he had ever known, he having seen her 
when in exile in this country. She was 
always striking in her person, and very 
brilliant in conversation. Her house was 
a most agreeable one, and I had become 
intimate and familiar there, dining with 
them generally every week.' 

Stephen Higginson's name appears in 
the London "Court Guide" for 1800 as 

1 Hillard's Life of Ticknor, i, 1 3. 
[ 255 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

residing at lo Gower Street. Later he 
spent from 1806 to 181 2 in England with 
his third wife and was there again in 18 18. 
While there he wrote back to his son 
Stephen (my father) remonstrating over 
the latter's dangerous course in sending 
out vessels, even while this was made 
most perilous by Orders in Council, on the 
one side, and by Berlin and Milan Decrees 
on the other. In this respect my father 
was influenced by the opinions of George 
Cabot, who believed at times that Napo- 
leon's fall was near, my father meanwhile 
risking hundreds of thousands of dollars 
on that expectation, a misfortune which 
my grandfather had apparently escaped 
through greater caution. 



XV 

THE STRANGE CAREER OF A 
SON AND HEIR 

" My father's brother, but no more like my father 
Than I to Hercules." 

— Hamlet, Act I, Sc. i. 



THE STRANGE CAREER OF A 
SON AND HEIR 

A MYSTERY has always been at- 
tached to the whole career of 
Stephen Higginson's eldest son. 
Born at Salem on January 15, 1765, and 
bearing the traditional family name of 
John, he was appointed on March 4, 1791, 
a lieutenant of infantry under the new 
government, through the influence of 
General Knox, Secretary of War. He 
had previously served in 1787 as an en- 
sign in Jackson's forces, and had since 
been a master mariner. His father had 
asked for a captain's commission for him 
and followed it up by this frank letter: — 

Boston April 7" 1790. 
Sir: 

I received your obliging Letter by the 

last post, and thank you for your friendly 

intentions both as to me and my Son 

[ 259 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

John. I had no expectation, nor did I 
even wish, that the established rules of 
rank &c should be infringed to benefit 
John. All I aimed at was to secure to him 
that grade, which he would obtain by a 
personal application, in virtue of his for- 
mer Commission, if a company could in 
that way fall to his lot, it would be very 
agreeable; but if not, he must be content 
with a lower grade. The same post that 
handed me yours, brought me also a letter 
from him, in which he requests me to 
apply for a Commission for him; having 
some how heard, that a new Corps was to 
be raised. All I wish is, that he may have 
as eligible a Station, as the rules in such 
cases will admit of.' 

The next glimpse that we have of Lieut. 
John Higginson is to be found in the fol- 
lowing extract from the conversation of the 
late James Elliot Cabot — Emerson's bio- 

* American Historical Association Report, 1896, i, 780, 781. 
[ 260 ] 



A SON AND HEIR 

grapher — with his mother, who was full 
of reminiscences as she grew older: — 

"John Higginson married in Paris. 
Your father was his groomsman. When 
all were waiting, he did not appear; and 
your father went after him to his lodgings, 
and found him there with his feet on the 
mantel-piece. He had forgotten all about 
it. His friends got a shop for him, and he 
agreed to keep it, if it was small enough 
for him to reach everything without get- 
ting up. He used to tell the customers to 
help themselves." ' 

The story is that, after marrying this 
French lady in Paris, in 1796, he some- 
how amassed a large fortune and had 
two daughters, Jeanette, who died young, 
and Simplice, who became the Vicomtesse 
de RouilM. He lived, so it is said, in much 
display in Paris, but died at Richmond, 
Va., at the house of Mr. Meyers, in 18 18. 

' /. Elliot Cabot (privately printed), p. 93. 

[ ^^' ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

It has been already mentioned that 
Stephen Higginson, under the influence of 
George Cabot, burned most of his private 
letters before his death. It is curious that 
among those preserved should be a letter 
from him to his French granddaughter, 
accompanied by a reply that came to him 
from her. The correspondence is too curi- 
ous not to print, though his letter shows 
an asperity which rather suggests " Laco " 
and is quite unusual from him, while hers 
has a beguiling quality which might have 
come out of a French novel. 

Brookline Octr i?t 1826 
My Dear Grand Daughter 

I have rec'd your affectionate Letter of 
the 8*^ of June last, & have considered its 
contents. While I thank you for the kind 
expressions of regard it contains, & par- 
ticularly for the strong desire you express 
to come to America for the purpose of 
seeing me, I must say to you that my 
[ 262 ] 



A SON AND HEIR 

great age & the infirmities consequent to 
it, forbid me to indulge the hope of seeing 
you in this life. You must regret this de- 
cision of mine the less, since the same 
reasons I have given for it, would operate, 
should I continue so long in life, to take 
from you the pleasure you might antici- 
pate from a personal interview. 

I will avail myself of this occasion to 
perform to you a painful duty, but neces- 
sary, as it will prevent a disappointment 
hereafter of any expectations you may 
have formed of deriving a benefit from 
what property I may leave at my de- 
cease. My pecuniary circumstances have 
so changed within a few years last past, 
that I shall barely be able to make a 
tolerable provision for those children who 
are about me, & who have been more 
unfortunate in money concerns than my- 
self. I must distribute what I have 
amongst them, or they may suffer. 

It is a relief to my mind on this subject, 
[ 263 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

that I had advanced to your late father in 
his life time, a much greater sum than 
would have fallen to his share, had he 
survived me — the whole of which was 
unpaid at his death, & is still due me. 
And the Justice of the actual disposition 
I shall make of my property, will be the 
more apparent to you, when when (sic) you 
consider the fact which must be known to 
your mother as well as it is to me — that 
she has heretofore received from her hus- 
band the whole of what he had acquired 
since he left France. 

With my kind regards to your mother, 
I am your affectionate Grandfather 
Stephen Higginson.' 

It apparently took this granddaughter 
a year and a half to muster courage to an- 
swer him, and he died a few months after 
receiving her letter. 

' From MSS. 
[ 264 ] 



A SON AND HEIR 

lyon. June 6 1828 

My dear grand father 

I could not, without an afflicted and 
thankful sentiment, read your letter of the 
first October, by my reading it I under- 
stood that you loved me, that you was 
thinking of me always notwithstanding my 
living far from your eyes; and that you 
have a expressed a wish to see me nearer 
to you. that wish made me happy and it 
makes me happy yet now, because I keep 
alive the hope of going to america, and 
receiving from your hands the benediction, 
you fill my soul with sorrow, when you 
appear to renounce to the pleasure of see- 
ing me in this world, wherefore, my dear 
father, do you permit that so sad a thought 
may invade your heart? your health is 
good indeed and your soul strong, you 
must, therefore appreciate the life for the 
happiness of the friends and parents living 
around you. 

since I took the pleasure and honour of 
[ 265 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

writing to you, my dear father, I brought 
out a third little child, it had caused to 
me long pains, . . . and the poor child 
died three months after its birth. I was 
very afflicted by its death; but I receive 
great comfort from my three [sic^ child- 
ren alive. 

I am very grateful to you, dear grand 
father, for your forgetting not your french 
grand daughter, she pursues her studies 
in the english language in order to enable 
herself of conversing with you when her 
meeting you will take place, in educating 
my sons carefully, I will teach them to 
communicate in english, with the family 
of their mother, and to love you as I do. 

my husband joins his wishes to the 
mine for the duration and improvement 
of your health, and I am respectfully and 
friendly, dear grand father, your most 
devoted and 

affectionate grand daughter 

HiGGINSON V^^^^^ DE ROUILLE 

[ 266 ] 



A SON AND HEIR 

Now that I am officiating as biographer, 
I confess to some regret that this should 
be the last memorial in my possession in 
respect to the French member of the 
family- Either her sons all died or else 
some more absorbing interest prevented 
them from carrying out her promise, and 
I have tried in vain to obtain from the 
Almanach de Gotha any further traces of 
this branch of the family de Rouille, or 
any records of the infusion of this Amer- 
ican blood. The descent of the title seems 
to have been irregular and transferred ; 
but the letters tell their own story, so far 
as they go. It is also curious that I can 
obtain through Virginia correspondents no 
further details as to the death of Captain 
John Higginson at Richmond, so that his 
whole later life is likely to remain an un- 
solved mystery. 



XVI 

LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

" Brightening to the last." 

Goldsmith's Deserted Village, line 909. 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

So far as I can remember, I had but 
one glimpse of my grandfather, and 
that was when I was nearly five 
years old. After riding over to Brookline 
in a yellow and creaking chaise, where I 
sat between my father and mother, I can 
dimly recall what followed. It has always 
been my impression, that after we had 
driven through a gateway beneath shading 
trees, I saw on the right an aged man 
wearing small-clothes such as I had never 
seen my father wear, and walking with 
an old-fashioned cane which is still, if I 
mistake not, my property. This was my 
sole glimpse of Stephen Higginson. My 
cousin, Rev. William Henry Channing, 
who was a dozen years older than my- 
self, wrote out, however, an ample de- 
scription of our common grandfather as 
[ 271 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

seen in those later years, and this with 
such vividness as amply deserves preser- 
vation. It is as follows : — 

Let me first of all describe my grand- 
father. He must at that period when he 
first rises on my memory have been be- 
tween sixty and seventy years of age, and, 
owing doubtless to the fact that, following 
the universal fashion of gentlemen of his 
position in that period, he wore his gray 
hair powdered, he was to me the type of 
all that was most ancient and venerable. 
His imposing figure, air, and manner filled 
me with ever new admiration, as, clothed 
in entire black, with his snowy locks and 
queue, and his ruffled wristbands and shirt 
bosom, white cravat above, and tightly 
buttoned gaiters or buckled shoes below, 
with broad-brimmed hat and gold-headed 
cane, he descended the door-steps to en- 
ter his carriage. This carriage, one of the 
large, brightly ornamented, highly pol- 
[ 272 ] 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

ished style then in vogue, with a lofty 
cushioned box seat for the coachman and 
platform behind for the footman, had been 
built in England, whence my grandfather 
had lately returned, and was, I presume, 
of very much the same pattern as thou- 
sands which are seen every day in all 
European and American cities. But it 
affected my imagination then as a princely 
equipage. So, as all boys are wont to 
fancy, my grandfather appeared to me the 
peer of the noblest. And still more stately 
and elegant was he to my imagination 
when attired in full costume to receive 
his guests at dinner or evening parties in 
his own house. Such was my grandfather 
when prepared to take his place in soci- 
ety. But the daily morning preparation for 
this grand display was an ever new mys- 
tery, which was watched with curious 
delight. He came down to the breakfast- 
room in a long white woolen wrapper 
belted around the middle, always greeting 
[ 273 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

us little folks with a benignant smile, and 
entertaining us during the meal by pleas- 
ant sallies, droll stories, and small talk, 
chatting between the whiles with his wife 
or my mother, as he sipped his chocolate 
or coffee and read his newspaper. And 
then came the chief mysteries of the toilet. 
His mirror, razors, hot water, napkins, etc., 
were brought in by his man-servant, and 
placed in full light; for my grandfather 
always chose to shave himself. The pro- 
cess was deliberate and solemn, for he was 
very precise and neat. And then came the 
time for my grandmother's skillful manip- 
ulations. The large japanned-box, with 
powder-puffs, brushes and combs, etc., was 
opened, a large clean napkin was spread 
over the shoulders of my grandfather, the 
ribbon of the queue was unrolled, shaken, 
and smoothed, the locks were carefully 
brushed out, the powder used on the 
previous day was carefully removed, the 
forehead was cleansed with a sponge, and 
[ 274 ] 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

then the readjustment began. The hair 
carefully brushed back over the head 
and behind the ears, though not so tight 
as to be flat, but rather loosely, and then 
neatly bound into a queue. Then the 
powder-puff was profusely used; a half- 
moon of pure white was marked upon the 
summit of the forehead in front of the 
hair. Next the napkin round the shoul- 
ders was removed, and a fresh white cra- 
vat with long lapels was folded and skill- 
fully tied around the neck. So much for 
the upper part of the person. Next came 
the serious work of making ready the 
nether limbs. These were the days of 
small-clothes and long hose, which varied 
in thickness according to the season. In 
the winter time or inclement weather, my 
grandfather wore woolen gaiters button- 
ing up to the knee, but in the summer or 
in fine weather he wore black silk stock- 
ings, or in very hot weather white. But 
it was a lengthened performance to tie 
[ 275 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

down the drawers; to pull up with per- 
fect smoothness — leaving no possible 
wrinkles — the stockings; to garter them 
tightly above the knee; to arrange the 
breeches neatly over them and button 
them tight, and then to fasten on the 
gaiters or the buckled shoes, according 
to the weather. And then my grandsire 
proceeded up-stairs to complete his equip- 
ment, — to don his low-hung waistcoat 
and broad-skirted coat. Certainly, the 
style of those old days was very im- 
posing in effect, but it involved a singu- 
lar amount of time, trouble, and incon- 
venience, which in these more careless 
days is avoided. But dress then was still 
a fine art, and demanded considerate 
thought, as a chief duty of social eti- 
quette. 

But this lingering upon external details 
is doing my reverend ancestor great injus- 
tice if it leaves on the minds of an}^ reader 
an impression that he was in the least de- 
[ 276 ] 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

gree ostentatious or foppish. No one could 
be more utterly free from such folly. He 
simply felt that it was a part of self-respect, 
as of mutual respect, to be scrupulously 
neat, refined, and elegant. In truth, my 
grandfather was a singularly manly, ener- 
getic, sensible, well-balanced, sagacious 
man of business, prudent and practical, 
prompt and energetic, full of enterprise yet 
conscientious and cautious. Engaged in 
large transactions in copartnership with his 
sons, he had been singularly successful 
until the difficulties between Great Britain 
and France; the Berlin and Milan decrees, 
and the American Embargo, embarrassed 
his affairs as they did then gall New Eng- 
landers engaged in commerce. How he 
and his firm suffered, I, of course, was 
quite too young to form the least notion, 
and have never inquired since. Certainly, 
to all appearance he was living entirely at 
his ease and in prosperity, with his town 
and country house, horses and carriages, 
[ 277 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

and hospitable welcome for all constant vis- 
itors and guests. Though now, in his old 
age, intrusting the more active offices of 
the firm and their extensive correspond- 
ence to his partners and their clerks, so far 
as memory serves, my grandfather went 
regularly every day to his place of business 
and to the Exchange. 

Early I became aware also that my 
grandfather had been and still was an act- 
ive and influential politician, enlisted with 
intense earnestness of conviction and not a 
little passion and prejudice and determined 
will upon the Federal side. He had long 
been one of the so-called Essex Junto ; had 
fervently supported Washington and been 
appointed by him as naval commissioner 
for Boston; was in close correspondence 
with Timothy Pickering; sat constantly in 
counsel with George Cabot, Josiah Quincy, 
Harrison Gray Otis, and their compeers; 
supported Fisher Ames, as the most trust- 
worthy orator and expounder of their party; 
[ 278 ] 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

stood firmly by Governor Strong, admired 
Hamilton and Jay, detested Jefferson and 
the Democrats, hated Bonaparte, dreaded 
French plots, confided implicitly in true 
republicanism, wished for cordial alliance 
with Great Britain; in a word, was a 
thorough-going, uncompromising, ardent, 
steadfast Federalist, and as such a zealous 
and devoted patriot in every fibre of his 
frame. 

He was, moreover, a very powerful and 
effective writer in the public press, and 
under his well-known signature of "Laco" 
had dealt very heavy blows against the 
intriguing, half-hearted, double-tongued, 
and double-dealing political manceuverers 
of the time, in a series of articles which, 
for their vehement indignation and keen 
satire and vigor of style, have rarely been 
surpassed. His fireside, therefore, was a 
centre of earnest discussion of the great 
practical controversies of the day; and 
without in the least comprehending the full 
[ 279 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

import of their meaning, my boyish ears 
drank in and my boyish heart and imagin- 
ation retained political impressions, which 
remained unaltered till the widening expe- 
riences of life, extended historical reading, 
and the changed aspect of the political 
world at home and abroad, gradually modi- 
fied them. Well do I remember to this day 
the utter amazement with which, when 
a boy of some twelve years of age, I heard 
a gentleman who was visiting my mother 
hazard the to me extravagantly heretical 
suggestion, "A Democrat may be honest 
in his convictions." In my grandfather's 
day and home such a remark would have 
been deemed treason, and would have 
branded the person who made it as untrust- 
worthy. On the whole, it was a healthful 
stimulation to a child's intellectual power 
of discernment, honorable feeling, and 
patriotic devotion to great practical prin- 
ciples inculcated by such men as my 
grandfather and George Cabot and Henry 
[ 280 ] 




ALEXANDER HAMILTON 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

Lee, and the many men of mark whom he 
gathered round him as his guests; and 
as all my relatives on my father's side, as 
well as on my mother's, were zealous and 
uncompromising Federalists, my whole 
form of thought and feeling took from the 
first a highly conservative and aristocratic 
form. 

These practical associations and con- 
victions, which unconsciously framed the 
osseous and muscular system of my char- 
acter were rounded out and completed by 
the social influences spread around me 
by my grandmother, — an English woman 
by birth and breeding, married to my 
grandfather in his widowhood, many years 
after the death of my mother's mother. A 
lover of the world and fashionable society 
and a stanch churchwoman, her visitors, 
too, gentlewomen of high-bred manners, 
elegant and stately appearance, she gave 
me a standard of courtesy which wide-ex- 
tended observation and experience through 
[ 281 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

many lands has but slightly enlarged or 
enriched. 

• •••••«• 

There were occasionally two visitors of 
a different stamp, excellent ladies, who had 
seen better days and were now fallen under 
the cloud of misfortune, through whose 
softened eyes, subdued tones, and modest 
demeanor, breathed a pathetic minor key, 
like an seolian harp. And two most vener- 
able dames, dressed always precisely like 
one another to a pin, in brown silk, with 
tightly fitting caps and starched necker- 
chiefs, the daughters of a very celebrated 
and eccentric doctor of divinity, with soft 
little voices and sweet smiles, used to affect 
my boyish fancy, as if two old-fashioned 
family portraits had suddenly started to 
conscious life, and had stepped down from 
their frames. My grandmother was of a 
most hospitable temper, and a scrupulously 
neat housekeeper. Her Christmas din- 
ners for aunts, uncles, and cousins, some 
[ 282 ] 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

twoscore in number, were festivals to be 
looked forward to and remembered for 
weeks. And every evening, tea, with but- 
tered bread in thin rolls and crisp cocoa- 
nut cakes and gingerbread, was handed 
round by the man-servant and maid with 
great ceremony. 

Previous to this, however, had been the 
grand sight for the children of building up 
the huge wood-fire in the generous chim- 
ney. My grandfather then had wakened 
from the long cosy nap which he took every 
afternoon in his comfortable arm-chair be- 
fore the fire-place. The servant brought 
in the ample "leather" filled with logs of 
wood. The high polished brass andirons 
were drawn back, with a large iron shovel 
the live coals of the declining fire had been 
raked forward, and then amid the still 
warm ashes was deposited the huge back- 
log of hard wood; upon this was placed 
the back-stick; then the fore-stick, some 
light and easily kindling wood inserted 
[ 283 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

between them; upon these were piled the 
glowing embers, and over them, so laid as 
to leave interstices for the draught, were 
reared smaller logs and sticks, then the 
remainder of the red coals opened beneath 
the fore-sticks, and the work thus scien- 
tifically and artistically finished. The re- 
sult was a glorious blaze that warmed with 
cheery ruddiness the walls and ceiling dark- 
ling in the twilight, and filled all hearts with 
the sense of good cheer, as the snowstorm 
was seen sweeping or the rain falling in 
the streets, ere the shutters were closed and 
the curtains drawn; and then came the 
magic hour for stories, as, gathering my sis- 
ters and myself on stools or small chairs 
around her, was opened for us the world 
of fairy romance. Later on came in uncles, 
aunts, neighbors, and visitors, to chat over 
the news, or discuss the politics of the day, 
or to join in games of whist, checkers, 
dominoes, ending with a snug supper at 
nine o'clock. Altogether, my impressions 
[ 284 ] 



LAST DAYS IN BROOKLINE 

of those times are of most cordial, cheer- 
ful friendliness and open-handed hospital- 
ity.' 

' Frothingham, Life of W. H. Channing, pp. 9-15. 



XVII 

STEPHEN HIGGINSON AS 
DRAWN BY OTHERS 

" Studied in his death." 

— Macbeth, Act I, Sc. 4. 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON AS 
DRAWN BY OTHERS 

THE following summary of Ste- 
phen Higginson's public life was 
written by his lifelong friend as 
well as kinsman, John Lowell : — 

Died in this city [November 22, 1828], at 
the advanced age of 85, the Hon. Stephen 
Higginson. Mr. Higginson was born at 
Salem, in the year 1743, and was the sole 
surviving male descendant of the past gen- 
eration, of the Rev. Francis Higginson, one 
of the most eminent of the Pilgrim clergy. 
The late Mr. Higginson was bred to the 
mercantile pursuit, under the late Deacon 
Smith of this town, a man of eminent pro- 
bity and worth. Having early incurred the 
expenses of a family, to support which his 
business was not competent, he betook 
[ 289 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

himself to the Home of the Salem Youth, 
the Ocean. From the year 1765 to the 
breaking out of the war, he was an active, 
bold and successful shipmaster. To this 
early training in hardship, and enterprise, 
his future character was indebted for many 
of its marked traits. 

Upon his quitting the sea, he embarked 
ardently in the cause of the Revolution, 
and, young as he was, and unpractised as 
he had been, in affairs of State, his rare 
acuteness and sagacity, and his inflexible 
firmness soon pointed him out as a man 
fitted for times of peril and dismay. He 
was sent to the Revolutionary Congress 
in 1783, by the Legislature of this State, 
where he soon distinguished himself, and 
acquired the confidence and friendship of 
the most eminent men in every part of the 
Union. When the distressing effects of the 
war began to press heavily on the People 
of this State and they broke out into actual 
rebellion in 1780, Mr. Higginson was one 
[ 290 ] 




JOHN LOWELL 



HIGGINSON DRAWN BY OTHERS 

of the few men selected by Gov. Bowdoin 
as his advisers, in that dark and stormy 
period; and to that former gentleman's 
remarkable coolness and intrepidity, a very 
fair share of that bloodless victory of the 
Constituti on over Anarchy may be ascribed. 
It can hardly be forgotten, that in all the 
measures which followed Washington's 
proclamation of Neutrality' — in defeating 
Madison's war resolutions — in upholding 
John Jay, and George Washington in his 
efforts for preserving the peace of the Na- 
tion by the treaty of 1794, Mr. Higginson 
was a " Gap " man — ready to mount the 
breach, and to defend the Constitution 
against all assaults. It would be improb- 
able that a man so inflexible in the pursuit 
of what is right, should not occasionally 
make enemies, yet it was his good fortune 
to enjoy, in succession, the confidence 
of John and Samuel Adams, of Elbridge 
Gerry, and of Washington, Lincoln, 
Strong, Brooks, Cabot, Parsons, and Ames. 
[ 291 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

He was a firm supporter of John Adams's 
administration; and in the quasi war 
against France, was by that administration 
made Navy Agent for Massachusetts, at 
that interesting and active moment, which 
office he held until removed by Jefferson. 
In short, there were not many individuals 
in our Nation, whose minds were more 
felt in the war of the Revolution, in the 
disturbances which succeeded it, in the cre- 
ation of a new Government, and in the sup- 
port of the feeble fabric in its infancy, than 
was that of Stephen Higginson. Would you 
inquire for his political opinions ? Read 
Washington's Legacy, and the writings of 
Hamilton. There they are embodied — 
where they led, he was sure to follow. 
Very few merchants suffered more deeply 
than Mr. Higginson by the spoliations of 
all the belligerents, yet his personal suf- 
ferings never warped his judgment. He 
looked steadily to the peace and happiness 
of his country as his polar star. To the 
[ 292 ] 



HIGGINSON DRAWN BY OTHERS 

ruinous and now exploded system of em- 
bargo and non-intercourse he was steadily 
opposed, but he was strenuous in favor of 
an efficient marine as the only honorable 
means of making our rights respected. As 
a merchant, Mr. Higginson set an honor- 
able example of enterprise tempered by 
discretion. Though exposed to severe re- 
verses, his mind always rose superior to 
them. As a citizen, he was always prompt 
and liberal in promoting every institution, 
whether literary or charitable. In domes- 
tic life he displayed the virtues which 
an understanding so sound, warmed by an 
affectionate heart could not fail to form 
and to cherish. The fair and unspotted 
fame, which he inherited from his ances- 
tors, he took care to transmit unblem- 
ished to his numerous descendants, whose 
surest course to honorable distinction 
will be to imitate his correct and digni- 
fied example.' 

' Boston Daily Advertiser, Nov. 23, 1828. 
[ 293 ] 



STEPHEN HIGGINSON 

This was the judgment of a man who 
had been all his life in close contact with 
his kinsman and friend, Stephen Higgin- 
son; but we must turn to a woman's pen 
for the finer insight needed in summing 
up personal character. On December 7, 
1828, my mother wrote to a near kins- 
woman, speaking of the death of her 
father-in-law : — 

" Of Him, no sentiment but of love, 
admiration and reverence can be retained 
— He was the most remarkable com- 
bination of vigour and energy of mind, 
with all the elevated and generous affec- 
tions and the delicate refined sentiments 
that I have ever known — his character 
and qualities should be forever cherished 
by his descendants and I hope I do not 
disparage them when I firmly believe that 
not one of them equals their venerable 
head. He continued to the last his sweet 
consideration for others and his gentle 
Patience — and left on the minds even of 
[ 294 ] 



HIGGINSON DRAWN BY OTHERS 

his Nurses and attendants the strongest 
feeling and affection. Dear old Man, I 
love to think of him — and wish I could 
see in my children qualities that I could 
compare to his. I consider it an honor 
and privilege that they descend from so 
noble a stock and hope his illustrious ex- 
ample will be incentive to excellence in 
all of them." 

With these words from my mother I 
may well close this memorial. 



INDEX 



INDEX 



»7K 



J- Q-. «3^ 15* !#»; j 126-178; 



- i3«^ 1 31- 



73,114. : 

L 299 ] 



INDEX 



192; letter of, 194; declines 

secretaryship, 194-197. 
Cabot, J. E., 261. 
Cabot, John, 14. 
Cabot, John, 45, 46, 247. 
Carey, Matthew, 117. 
Carmichael, William, 60, 61. 
Channing, W. H., 235, 271; 

his description of Stephen 

Higginson, 272-285. 
Chapman, Capt., account of, 

211. 
Charles I, 50. 
Cheverus, Father, 234. 
Clarke, Abraham, 54, 55. 
Cleveland, Aaron, 15. 
Cleveland, Richard, 40. 
Cleveland, Stephen, letters to, 

44. 45- 
Cleveland, Susanna (Porter), 

IS- 

Clinton, George, 242. 

Clymer, George, 72. 

Coffin, Peleg, 222. 

Collyer, Mr., 46. 

"Conciliatory resolutions," 
the, 119, 120. 

Confederation, revising the, 
112, 116; end of, 115. 

Congress, 114; proposes meet- 
ing at Philadelphia, 115; 
address to, 117; and the 
Constitution, 118, 119. 

Constitution, present, adopted, 
118, 119, 121. 

Constitution, frigate, 203, 204. 



Continental Congress, 49-63. 
Cooper, William, 253. 
Crawford, G. W., on banks, 

182. 
Gushing, Thomas, 158. 

Dana, Francis, 57, 73, 114, 

116, 117, 178, 179. 
Dane, Nathan, 114; letter to, 

106. 
Dawes, Thomas, 155. 
Decatur, Stephen, 202, 206. 
Democrats, the, 41, 279. 
Derby, Charles, 40. 
Derby, E. H., 39. 
Dexter, Samuel, Jr., 188. 
Dobbs, Arthur, 246. 
Drowne, Samuel, 16, 17. 
Duane, James, 58, 59, 72. 
Dyer, Eliphalet, 54. 

Ellery, William, 56. 
Embargo, the, 156, 157. 
Emerson, R. W., 261. 
Endicott, John, 223. 
Essex Junto, 41, 42, 238, 239, 
278. 

Feasts of Shells, described, 
219-222; criticised, 224- 
227, 227-229. 

Federalists, the, 42, i6r, 208, 
281; gravity, 3, 4; Salem 
headquarters for, 41; and 
the future, 153; objects of 
suspicion, 249. 



[ 300 ] 



INDEX 



Fisheries, 70; in the Colonies, 

22-33. 
Fitzsimmons, Thomas, 57, 

58, 72- 
Force, Peter, 22. 
Ford, W. C, 59. 
France, Isle of, trade to, 141- 

149. 
Franklin, Benjamin, 3, 58, 61, 

249. 
French & Co., 46. 

Gardiner, John, 225. 
Gerry, Elbridge, 58, 73, 114, 
116, 117, 291; and Congress, 

52, 53- 
Gervais, J. L., 54. 
Gill, Moses, 158. 
Gorham, Nathaniel, 51, 52, 

116, 117. 
Gouge, W. M., on banks, 182. 

183. 

Racket, Capt., 212. 

Hamilton, Alexander, 58, 68, 
72, 250, 279, 292; letters 
of, destroyed, 183, 184; re- 
tirement of, 235, 236. 

Hancock, John, 90, 118, 138, 
233, 242, 244; and Stephen 
Higginson, 6; and "con- 
ciliatory proposition," 120; 
ballad about, 121; Laco not 
just to, 125; James Savage 
and, 126-128; Laco on, 128- 
136; and posterity, 136, 137. 



Hartley, Thomas, 61. 

Harvard College, 37, 38, 40; 
Commencement at, 178. 

Hawkins, Mr., 246, 248. 

Heath, Mr., 251. 

Heath, William, 158. 

Hichbom, Col. Benjamin, 95; 
leads force against Shays, 
90; importance of expedi- 
tion, 92. 

Higginson, Elizabeth (Per- 
kins), second wife of Stephen 
H., 252. 

Higginson, Elizabeth, mother 
of Stephen, Second, 14. 

Higginson, Francis, 223, 289; 
quoted, 7, 10, 11; death, 11. 

Higginson, Sir G. W., 10. 

Higginson, Henry, account 
of, 38 and note, 233. 

Higginson, J. P., 252; and 
Laco, 137. 

Higginson, Jeanette, 261. 

Higginson, Joane, earliest 
known ancestress, 9, 10. 

Higginson, Rev. John (i), ac- 
count of, 11; settles in 
Salem, 12. 

Higginson, John (2), account 
of, 12. 

Higginson, John (3), 12. 

Higginson, John, Stephen, 
Sr.'s eldest son, 259; mar- 
riage, 260, 261; death, 262, 
267. 

Higginson, Rev. John, 10. 



[ 301 ] 



INDEX 



Higginson, Louisa (Storrow), 
description by, of Stephen 
Higginson, St., 294, 295. 

Higginson, Nathaniel, account 
of, 12. 

Higginson, Nathaniel, no. 

Higginson, Sarah (Perkins), 
third wife of Stephen H., 

252, 253; description of, 
281, 282. 

Higginson, Simplice. See 
de Rouille. 

Higginson, Stephen (4), ac- 
count of, 13, 14. 

Higginson, Stephen, Senior (5), 
116, 126, 156, 158, 225, 229, 

253, 255; memoir begun, 4; 
saying of, 5; career, 5, 6; as 
Laco, 6 (see under Laco); 
ancestry, 9-15; birth, 15, 
289; marriages, 15, 16, 252, 
253; settles in Salem, 21; 
first voyage, 21; questioned 
by House of Commons, 21; 
Marblehead indignant, 22; 
answers, 22-33; ^s ship- 
master, 37, 38, 40; and 
Essex Junto, 42; privateer- 
ing, 43; letters of, 44, 45, 
69, 76, 84, 103, 106, III, 
141, 153, 158, 162, 163, 167, 
179, 197, 208, 209, 214, 236, 
244, 251, 259, 262; letters 
to, 75, 198, 199, 200, 202, 
205, 241; dislikes to hold 
ofl&ce, 49; and Continental 



Congress, 49-63 ; and Gerry, 
53; on committees, 54, 55, 
57. 58, 89, 155; report of, 
59, 60; proposed delegate 
to Annapolis Convention, 
67; and Shays' Rebellion, 
93-97; iii-iiS; judgment 
of, 102; declined serving as 
delegate, 117; signs protest 
of merchants, 118; and the 
Constitution, 119; criticism 
of, 125; story about, 137; 
standing of, 138; sugges- 
tion as to trading, 141-149; 
and country's future, 153- 
155; and affairs of Boston, 
155; on celebration of Wash- 
ington's birthday, 1 58-1 61; 
supplied arms for Virginia, 
1 61-167; and Pierre Adet, 
168, 175; and banking, 176, 
177, 181-183; on J. Q. 
Adams, 1 78-181; destroys 
letters, 184, 207; suggested 
as commissioner, 188; Wil- 
liam Sullivan on, 190; act- 
ing Secretary of the Navy, 
197; Stoddert's dependence 
on, 198-207, 213-215; pre- 
sides at Feast of Shells, 222; 
toast to, 223; and public 
afifairs, 233, 235; wealth, 234, 
235; Brookline house, 235; 
on Hamilton, 236-239; lands 
in North Carolina, 246-248; 
in England, 255, 256; his 



I 



[ 302 ] 



INDEX 



eldest son, 259; descriptions Jackson, Jonathan, 89, 114, 



of, by T. W. Higginson, 
271; by W. H. Channlng, 
272-285; by John Lowell, 
289-293; by L. S. Higginson, 
294, 295; death, 289. 

Higginson, Stephen, Jr. (6), 
234, 256. 

Higginson, Susan Cleveland; 
wife of Stephen, Second, 
15, 16. 

Higginson family, ancestry, 

9-15- 
Hildreth, Richard, 50. 
Hillar, Capt., of the Pickering, 

212. 
Hillard, G. S., 253, sketch of 

James Savage, 126. 
Hodshon, John, 46. 
Hoist, H. E. von, 86. 
Holten (Holton), Samuel, 51, 

52, 56. 
Howell, David, 56. 
Huntington, Benjamin, 60. 
Huntington, Samuel, 59. 
Hutchins, First Lieut, of the 

Herald, 212. 
Hutchinson, Thomas, 130, 

131- 

Irving, Washington, on George 

Washington, 3, 4. 
Irwin, John, 55. 
Izard, Ralph, 60. 



Jackson, J. G., 161. 



184, 233, 244, 247, 259; 

Higginson's partner, 43; in 

Congress, 49; his Corps, 

103, 104; letter to, 241; 

urged to visit lands in North 

Carolina, 250. 
Jackson family, 15. 
Jameson, J. F., 115; publishes 

Stephen Higginson letters, 

43; on Stephen Higginson, 

125- 
Jarvis, Dr. Charles, 89, 155, 

156. 
Jarvis, Leo, 247. 
Jay, John, 61, 279, 291; letter 

of, 187. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 6, 42, 279, 

292; and shipping, 149; 

Sullivan unjust to, 190. 
Jones, Judge, of Virginia, 72. 
Jones, Mr., 156. 
Jones, Coffin, 242. 

King, Rufus, 113, 114, 117; 

letter to, 116; suggested as 

commissioner, 188. 
Knox, Henry, 102, 158, 259; 

letter of, 75; letters to, 76, 

103, III, 153. 
Knox papers, 74. 

Laco, 233, 244, 262, 279; let- 
ters of, aimed at Hancock, 
125; on John Hancock, 
128-136; reaction of letters, 



[ 303 ] 



INDEX 



137. See also Higginson, 
Stephen. 

Laud, Archbishop, 227. 

Laurens, or Lawrence, Henry, 
60, 61. 

LeRoy, Bayard and McEvers, 
Messrs., 161; letter to, 162. 

Lee, A., 59. 

Lee, Arthur, 235, 249; letters 
to, 236, 244; gift of land to, 
249. 

Lee, Henry, 250, 281. 

Lee, John, 45. 

Lee, Joseph, 40. 

Lee, family, 15. 

Leverett, Sir John, 223. 

Lincoln, Mr., 175. 

Lincoln, Benjamin, 86, 224, 
291; report of, 96; success- 
ful expedition of, 103. 

Livingstone, or Livingston 
Philip, 72. 

Lloyd, James, 177. 

Lodge, H. C, 235. 

Loring, J. S., on Laco, 137. 

L'Ouverture, Toussaint, 163; 
arms for, 164, 167. 

Lowell, Judge, 94. 

Lowell, John, 43, 73, 114, 116, 
117; 233, 247; on Stephen 
Higginson, 49, 289-293. 

Lowell family, 235. 

Ludlow, Daniel, 242. 

Lyman, Mr., 177. 



McCormick, William, 63. 

[ 304 ] 



McEvers, Charles, 242. 

McNeil, Daniel, 212. 

Maclay, William, on fitting 
out a fleet, 189, 190. 

Madison, James, 29, 58, 72, 
112. 

Marshall, John, 3. 

Mason, Jonathan, 233. 

Massachusetts Legislature, 
106; selection of members 
from, 116, 117; conciliatory 
resolutions of, 119, 120. 

Mather, Cotton, 126. 

Meyers, Mr., 262. 

Morris, Gouverneur, 4. 

Morris, Robert, 72, 189. 

Morse, Jedediah, 229. 

Nicholson, James, 205, 206. 
North, Capt., 78. 

Osgood, Samuel, 51. 

Otis, H. G., 157, 278; and a 

new bank, 176, 177. 
Otis, James, 130. 

Page, , 90. 

Paine, Edward, 89. 

Paine, R. T., 225; his toast, 

223. 

Parker, , 90. 

Parker, Samuel, 225. 
Parsons, Theophilus, 42, 73, 

114, 120, 179, 291; and 

' ' conciliatory resolutions," 

119. 



INDEX 



Peabody, Joseph, 39. 

Perkins brothers, 234. 

Perkins, Barbara Higginson, 
account of, 255. 

Perkins, Elizabeth. See Hig- 
ginson. 

Perkins, S. G., account of, 
254, 255. 

Perkins, Sarah. See Higginson. 

Philadelphia, proposed con- 
vention at, 113, 115. 

Phillips, John, first mayor of 
Boston, 156. 

Phillips, Wendell, 156. 

Pickering, Timothy, 225, 278; 
and the Essex Junto, 41, 
42; letters to, 158, 163, 194, 
197; letters of, 191, 192. 

Pickering papers, 178. 

Pierce, John, 250; letters to, 

251- 
Pleasants, James, 161. 
Poncett & Maynard, 46. 
Prescott, William, 254. 

Quincy, Josiah, First, 21. 
Quincy, Josiah, 278. 

Randolph, John, 72, 161. 
Read, Jacob, 55. 
Remson, Mr., 59. 
Richardson, James, 4. 
Richmond, Va., arms for, 

164-167. 
Rigaud, B. J. A., 167. 
Rigaut. See Rigaud. 



Rose, Alexander, 247. 

Rotch, Billy, 21. 

Rouille, Vicomtesse de (Sim- 
plice Higginson), 261; letter 
to, 262; letter of, 265. 

Rouille, de, family, all traces 
of, lost, 267. 

Russell, Joseph, 222. 

Russell, T., 247. 

Rutledge, John, 58. 

Sargent, Henry, 223. 
Savage, James, severity against 

Cotton Mather and John 

Hancock, 126-128. 
Sever, Capt., 201; to protect 

coast, 199, 202, 203, 205; 

orders for, 205; and the 

Herald, 208; account of, 

209-211. 
Sewall, Jonathan, 245. 
Shattuck, Mr., 90, 91. 
Shays, Capt. Daniel, 95, 102; 

leader of Shays' Rebellion, 

86, 89. 
Shays' Rebellion, 5, 68, 75, 

83-101, 118; importance of, 

83; beginning, 85; cause, 

86; possession of courthouse, 

88; forces against, 90, 91; 

dangers of, in. 
Silsbee, Nathaniel, account of, 

39. 40. 
Silsbee, William, 39. 
Silsbee, Zachariah, 40. 
Smith, Mr., of S. C, 188. 



[ 305 ] 



INDEX 



Smith, Deacon, 15, 289. 

Smith, Thomas, his letter 
about slaves, 241. 

Sparks, Jared, 3, 4. 

Stoddert, Benjamin, 166; Sec- 
retary of the Navy, 190, 197; 
depends on Higginson, 198- 
207, 213-215; letters of, 
198, 199, 200, 202, 205, 214; 
letters to, 209. 

Story, Joseph, and Shays' 
Rebellion, 119. 

Strong, Caleb, 117, 291, 279. 

Sullivan, James, Gov., 73, 89, 
93. 95. 156-158; on repre- 
sentatives, 116, 117. 

Sullivan, Gen. James, 95. 

Sullivan, Richard, 254. 

Sullivan, William, 93, 254; 
account of, 94; on Stephen 
Higginson, 190. 

Sullivan family, 94. 

Sumner, Increase, 158. 

Talleyrand-Perigord, C. M., 

Due de, 255. 
Ticknor, George, quoted, 253, 

254- 
Tracy, Nathaniel, 247. 



Treaty of Amity and Com- 
merce, 61-63. 
Truxton. See Truxtun. 
Truxtun, Thomas, 201. 
Tudor, William, 155. 

Union, needs of, 106; increase 
of powers of, 112; danger 
to, 113. 

Walpole, Horace, 4. 

Warren, J. C, Sr., 254. 

Warren, J. P., loi. 

Washington, George, 102, 174, 
278, 292; kindliness, 3, 4; 
letters to, 96, 187; attends 
Constitutional Convention, 
118; attack on, 158; birth- 
day celebration, 158-160; 
Neutrality Proclamation, 
291. 

Webster, Daniel, 128. 

Weems, M. L., 3. 

Wentworth, Benning, 16, 17. 

Wentworth, John, Gov., 248. 

Whitfield, Rev. Henry, 11. 

Wilson, James, 223. 

Winthrop, John, 223. 



SEPlc ,90, 




014 012 889 2 



